The Mummy III-The Awakening
by Jack E. Peace
Summary: Set a year after TMR , Evy and Johathan's youngest sister comes to visit after 19 years of not seeing her family. But she's not alone..... (Status: Complete)
1. Default Chapter

This story takes place almost a year after "The Mummy Returns". It is my first try at a "Mummy" fan-fic so don't judge it right away. I don't own any of the characters except Jennifer and her bird Hours and of course the plot. Please R&R   
I'll update the chapters as I finish them; check back often.   
  
  
Chapter One   
  
  
In the sandy hills outside of the ruins of the once great Hamanprta, stood a lone camel tied to a growing palm tree. The camel lolled quietly and contently as the hot Sahara sun beat onto its back. To the far left of the camel, were the stone remains of Hamanprta; a few tunnels had survived the fall of the great city almost ten years ago. Stone bricks were scattered helter over the sandy ground. Visible was a large hole that lead deep into the once standing temple; one remaining tunnel. A rucksack sat by the temple entrance, left by a seeker hoping to travel light.   
Down one-corridor shadows from a torch flickered off the walls, making everything seem unreal and confusing. The torch was gripped in the tan hand of a young woman, only around nineteen or so. Her skin was tan, Egypt sun, and her hair was brown, long but tied in a ponytail. Her eyes were blue, sparkling with curiosity and sense of danger. She wore a tight brown shirt and brown pants; her boots stirred the sand around her feet. She continued down the corridor, her breath held in suspense. Turning one hall, the woman entered a room littered with human bones and rock. Scattered around the room were shells or corpses of little bugs. Few bug corpses were resting around the human skeleton or inside the bones of the rib cage.   
"Scarabs" The woman muttered, her voice was tinted with a British accent.   
The sand covered nearly everything in the room, making the room beige and nearly colorless. Whatever the sand was covering made unnatural lumps, making the room look like a model sized hill setting. Curios about what the lumps might be, the woman stepped up to one and began brushing the sand away from it. More sand just fell over it, making it hard to see what was under the miniature sand dune. Dropping her torch onto the ground for use of both hands, the woman began brushing the sand away. A black onyx like stone surface was beginning to take form under the sand. Eager to see what it was, the woman continued brushing the sand away.   
Sand fell to the ground, onto the torch extinguishing the flame. The room was plunged into darkness, causing the woman to gasp. The sound of sand falling onto the floor was heard, however the woman had stopped brushing the sand away when the flame went out. The woman slowly turned to the dune, her heart beating fast. Her gaze was met by a pair of glowing red eyes. Gasping stepping backward, the woman couldn't believe what she had seen. She continued to slow retreat until she tripped over the bones that littered the floor. Hitting the ground with a jaw-jarring thud the woman looked back to where the "eyes" were. They had advanced onto her, clearly alive and belonging to some unearthly form. Eyes adjusted slightly to the darkness, the woman could see the form wave its hand or limb. The room was engulfed in light; the woman could clearly see the form that towered in front of her. It was a large jackal-headed man, or a jackal that stood like a man. His head was scarred and his ears were ravaged, eyes red and haunting. His hands were paws that had seen many a battle, claws razor sharp. The body was rippled with muscles standing out against the brown fur. The legs were long and slender, powerful, feet like a falcons': three-toed with massive talon like claws. Around its neck was an Egyptian style color, blue and gold stripped.   
The woman could do nothing but stare at the jackal-man, gazing in a mixture of wonder and fear. The creature stared back down at her. After what seemed like eternity the creature opened his mouth -which was filled with rows of razor sharp, cracked teeth- to speak.   
"Who are you?" The creature asked in Ancient Egyptian.   
Surprisingly the woman could not only understand the jackal creature's words but could answer him back in the same tongue.   
"Jennifer Carnahan, forgive me for trespassing." She managed to choke out.   
The jackal stared down at her, reasoning something out.   
"What year is this?" The jackal asked.   
"1934." The woman named Jennifer hurriedly answered.   
The jackal seemed upset about that knowledge, once again reasoning something out inside his head.   
"Woman, do you know who I am?" The jackal asked, his eyes were no longer burning but had become a dark black, almost as though they were just sockets.   
Jennifer thought for a moment and quivering, answered "No."   
The jackal laughed, filling the chamber with the unearthly, horrible sound.   
"I am the God Anubis, bringer of Death. Leader of a great army." The creature answered.   
Jennifer knew now, of course, she had seen this creature in textbooks. "Yes." She choked out, quivering still.   
"You are brave human, you do not run yet you fear me. I have use for you." Anubis said.   
Jennifer stared up at the God, not daring to look away.   
"I have been imprisoned for over a year, my great army had once been lead by The Scorpion King who gave his soul to me. He was defeated by a man, O'Connell, and was sent back to the underworld. My army has been imprisoned in the sands of Amh-Shre. You will take me to Amh-Shre." The God commanded, his voice sending shivers up Jennifer's spine.   
Daringly she said, "And what if I don't?"   
"You have strength woman, you will take me the Amh-Shre, and there I will gather my army and kill O'Connell and his wife." Anubis commanded.   
The name "O'Connell" had sounded familiar to her before but now at the mention of "O'Connell and his wife" Jennifer's breath caught in her throat. Jennifer was not an only child, she had two siblings both older. A brother and a sister; her sister had gotten married and taken her husband's name: O'Connell.   
Jennifer frowned; no way was she going to help this jackal destroy her sister and brother-in-law. "No, I will not take you to Amh-Shre." Jennifer said, no longer quivering.   
Anubis laughed; he knew Jennifer could not stand to defy him. "You have no choice, I will make you take me to Amh-Shre, you cannot defy me. You are much more valuable to me then just a guide." Anubis said.   
"I don't know where Amh-Shre is." Jennifer said, still staring up at the jackal.   
"You know the O'Connells, I can read you. You will take me to them, they know where Amh-Shre is." Anubis said.   
He stooped and picked Jennifer up by her shirt collar. She tried to struggle but it was no use, Anubis was too strong. He held her eye level with him. "To make sure you do not double-cross me," Anubis began, he used his other hand to form an Egyptian style necklace -like his own- around her neck, "You must go to Amh-Shre to get this necklace off, if you do not you will die."   
Jennifer gasped as Anubis dropped her back onto the ground. She tugged at the necklace but it would not come off, Anubis was true to his word.   
"Now we will go." Anubis said and began walking out of the chamber. Jennifer had no choice but to follow him. Anubis led his prisoner out of the ruins and to her camel; all the while she followed behind him, silent.   
  



	2. Chapter Two

Chapter   
Two   
  
  
  
Far from the ruins of Hamputra, in a large house -more like a manor- the inhabits were unaware that they were about to begin another adventure like their previous two. Sitting in the manor's large study/library sat a woman in her late twenties; she had fair skin and semi-curly black hair. Her eyes were bright and sparkled.   
She was seated in a plush red velvet chair with a book nestled in her hands; she flipped the pages with a licked finger, delicately so not to smudge the pages. She was completely involved in the book and didn't hear the chaos that was going on the top story.   
On the top story of the house -really the second story- a short nine-year old boy had knocked one of his mother's prized vases onto the ground. It shattered onto the floor like a bomb, breaking into a million (it seemed) pieces. The boy gulped; his mother might not hear the noise since she was down stairs but his father would, he was in the opposite room.   
Sure enough, in the opposite room a dashing, muscle built, brown haired, brown-eyed American man sat in a chair, listening to the crackle of the fire when he heard the crash of the vase. Immediately he knew what the nose was. He climbed out of the chair and headed for the room that his son occupied. "Alexander O'Connell you better not of broken another vase." The boy's father said. He knew the words were pointless, a waste of breath. His son, Alex for short, wasn't a bad child he just had a habit of breaking things.   
Alex's father entered the room to see his son trying to sweep up the tiny bits of glass with his hands. Alex looked up at his father, forcing a grin that said, "it was an accident."   
The boy's father frowned at his son. "Alex, don't clean glass up with your hands you might cut yourself." He said.   
Alex took his hands away from the glass and brushed little pieces that clung to his sweaty hands back onto the floor. He looked up at his father, Rick O'Connell; the boy looked a little like his father and a little like his mother but more like his ancestors.   
Rick knelt down by the shattered glass in front of his son. "Come on, we'd better get this clean before your Mum comes upstairs." Rick said and instructed his son to retrieve the broom and dustpan from the near-by closet.   
  
Downstairs, the boy's mother wasn't aware that one of her "priceless" vases had been broken; she was still involved in the book. The book was telling about the God Anubis, the God of Death, the jackal headed God. She, her husband, her brother and her son had run into an army of Anubis warriors thousands and thousands strong. A half man, half scorpion creature called The Scorpion King, led them. The only way to kill The Scorpion King was with the Golden Specter that was luckily in the O'Connell's possession; her husband had killed The Scorpion King and sent the Anubis warriors back to the underworld where their master was. However, this book told of The Scorpion King back in Ancient Egypt; how he had sold his soul to Anubis for the power to defeat his enemies. Once The Scorpion King's task was done the warriors were returned to the underworld along with the Scorpion King. When his army was returned Anubis was locked away in the oasis of Amh-Shre waiting until someone awakened The Scorpion King. Her son Alex had done that, awakening The Scorpion King and the army of Anubis but there was no sign of the God himself. Once Rick killed The Scorpion King, Anubis must have once again been imprisoned, waiting until someone awakened him again. Instead of awakening The Scorpion King -whom can only be killed once- Anubis himself would be awakened. He was return to Amh-Shre to awaken his army to destroy the world. There was no known way to kill him; if he awakened his army they would be unstoppable.   
The woman sighed and closed her book that was enough reading for the night. She'd better go upstairs to see what sort of mischief her son and husband were getting into.   
  
Upstairs Rick heard his wife's, Evelyn O'Connell, footsteps on the stairs. He and his son had just finished sweeping up the glass; Rick took the dustpan away from his son and dumped the contents into a trashcan that rested in a corner. Alex put the broom back in the closet as him mum appeared at the top of the stairs. Alex looked at his mother with an innocent nine-year old grin.   
Evelyn looked at her husband and then her son; without saying a word she knew something was going on behind her back. She would question Rick later, now it was time for Alex to go to bed.   
"Alex time for bed." Evelyn said.   
Alex said goodnight to his father and rushed into his room to get into his bedclothes. Evelyn entered to room minutes later; Alex was already in bed with the covers pulled up to his chin.   
Evelyn bent to kiss him goodnight.   
"Mum, do you have any brothers and sisters other then Uncle John?" Alex asked as his mother kissed him on the forehead.   
Evelyn withdrew, surprised at her son's question. "What brought that on all of the sudden?" She asked.   
Alex shrugged. "I don't know, just wondering." He answered.   
Evelyn stood up. "I have one sister, younger then I. I haven't seen her since she was a few weeks old; when my parents passed away." Evelyn asked, looking down at her son.   
Alex told his mother goodnight and watched her leave the room. She turned the light off as she shut the door, still surprised at Alex's question.   
  
  
  
  
In a hotel in Egypt a shaky hand turned on the lights. Jennifer entered the hotel room followed by her unwanted guest. Anubis shoved her into the room and slammed the door shut behind him.   
In one corner of the room a large falcon sat on a perch. His feathers shone in the hotel light; his large golden eyes were unmoving, staring at the two that had entered the room. His glistening talon wrapped around the perch; his curved beak warned those around him of his "bite". A leather strap wrapped around his left foot, a collar of some sort. His gaze was shifted to Jennifer; he cawed, startled by the shutting of the door.   
Jennifer held out her arm; the bird took flight and landed delicately on her outstretched arm. He didn't close his talons around her arm but he stayed perched upon it. Jennifer stroked the bird's beautiful head.   
Anubis looked at the bird. "What's that?" He asked, his gruff voice startling Jennifer.   
"This is Hours." She answered, not looking at Anubis.  
Hours cawed at Anubis and flapped his wings. Anubis stared at the bird then he turned to face Jennifer.   
"Tomorrow we leave for London." He growled. "To find the O'Connells." He turned away from Jennifer and looked around the hotel room.   
Jennifer frowned; Anubis was set on finding the O'Connells to take him to Amh-Shre, there was nothing she could do because of the "curse" he bestowed upon her. Jennifer sighed; the moon was already high in the star filled sky. She couldn't do anything now but sleep and in the morning she and Anubis would go to London.   
  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
  
  
  
  
  
Before the sun had fully risen above the gray mist that hung in the London sky, Jennifer was already halfway to London on a train. She had packed her few things in her rucksack, which was sitting in the seat beside her; on her other side was a small onyx statute shaped like a jackal. Before Jennifer and her captor had left the hotel Anubis had transformed himself into the onyx statue so that Jennifer could travel with him without people causing chaos for seeing the large jackal. Horus was perched upon her rucksack peering his feathers and watching the scenery flash by the train windows.  
Jennifer laid her head back against the plush velvet back of the seat and sighed. Jennifer was full of mixed emotions; she hadn't seen her brother and sister since she was a baby, the night her parents died. Her sister was eleven years older then she, her brother was twenty-one; her sister had married an American ten years ago which meant she had a brother in law but she didn't know if her sister had had any children. In a way, Jennifer was happy that Anubis was forcing her to London to see "The O'Connells" but she was mad and afraid because she didn't know what Anubis would do with them once he had awakened his army from Amh-Shre. Shaking all her thoughts from her head -which was reeling- Jennifer began to stroke Horus's back feathers; Horus cawed and ruffled up his feathers, a sign that he was pleased. Horus climbed off the rucksack and onto Jennifer's shoulder, cuddling up closely to her neck. Jennifer smiled a little but was too busy thinking, within hours they would be in London. Though Jennifer didn't know where her sister and her husband lived she was sure she could directions from somewhere. Jennifer once again shook all thoughts from her head, thinking about what would happen would just make it worse; she turned to look outside, the sun was above the mist now and climbing into the sky, making the few remaining stars disappear from the blue tinted sky. The suns warm rays washed upon the green trees that filled the landscape; it was different from Egypt where there were almost no trees. Grasses fields and plains provided prefect-grazing land for cattle; the lush grass was a deep green, even when the sun washed onto it.   
  
  
A few hours later in London the O'Connell family was beginning to stir; Alex was up and full of energy before the sun had fully taken it's morning position in the sky. Quickly shedding his bedclothes, the young boy was full of excitement. Today he, his mother, his father and his uncle would be going into the city to do some shopping and such. Alex loved the trips into the city, especially the trips to the bookstore and the toy store; he loved to eat in London's exquisite cafés and loved to look at the beautiful water.   
Getting fully dressed Alex grabbed his rucksack -which was always handy and full of things such as his trusty sling shot- and headed downstairs. Halfway down the large flight of stairs Alex heard his mother and father already downstairs at the breakfast table. Alex entered the kitchen, greeting his parents with "good mornings" and taking his place at the table beside his father. The table only had four places: one for him, for his father, for his mother and for his uncle who would occasionally grace them with his presence.   
"Excited about going into the city today?" Rick asked his son.   
Alex nodded and smiled. Evelyn didn't say anything, she looked slightly mad. Alex guessed his mother had discovered the missing vase. Whenever his mother looked at him Alex shot her the most innocent grin he could manage, in between talking to his father about what he wanted to do in the city.   
  
  
Jennifer was tried of walking; she sighed and sat down on a wooden bench that over looked the sparkling water. She dropped her rucksack on the ground beside her feet and commanded Horus onto her shoulder. She had been looking for the O'Connells for hours but it was no use, it seemed as if they didn't exist; Anubis, however, wouldn't let her quit. She was taking a much-needed break, despite the protests from Anubis that rang inside her head. Around an hour ago she had discovered that Anubis was fluent in "telekinesis"; this was bad for her because Anubis could yell at her all he wanted to inside her head, which throbbed from his constant yelling and verbal abuse. Jennifer wanted to yell "Shut up" but was afraid that people would stare, though it wouldn't have been too big of a deal because people had been staring at her since she left the train. After all she didn't look British with her tan skin, dirty rucksack and falcon perched on her shoulder. She didn't even speak with the English accent since she had lived in America all her life; her father was British and her mother was Egyptian but she never met either of them since she had been adopted by an American family and taken to America to live with them when she was only weeks old. She had never seen her sister or brother but knew about them from her adopted family.   
"Get up! Find the O'Connells!" Anubis commanded inside her head. She felt the "necklace" around her neck tighten, a constant reminder of her task.   
"Alright." Jennifer muttered, feeling the necklace's grasp loosen.   
Back to a seemingly endless search for the O'Connells.   
  
  
The O'Connells trip into the city was already well under way; at the moment Rick, Evelyn, Alex and Evelyn's older brother Jonathan were taking an early lunch at Alex's favorite café by the water. The O'Connell family had already visited many of the shops that lined the streets near the café they were seated at right now. One of those shops included the exquisite bookstore that Alex and his mother could spend hours in -if Rick would let them. Alex had gotten a new book on Egyptian history, about the pharaohs and the Gods that the ancient Egyptians worshiped. While they were waiting for they lunch to arrive, Alex had the book open in his lap already in-grossed in the black print that told of his "ancestors".   
Rick leaned his head back and sighed, the cafés in London were always busy on the weekends; their day so far had been filled with waiting, waiting in lines to purchase things and now waiting for their food at this café. Rick looked behind him at the bustle of the city streets; cars drove along the streets, couples with children or people walking by themselves filled the sidewalks and the crosswalks of the streets. There were many varieties of shops along the streets, bookstores, clothing stores and a picturesque pet shop that sold exotic birds, homely kittens and puppy-eyed puppies. Alex loved to look at the pet shop and would always ask for a cat or a puppy -and once even a snake to which Evelyn immediately put her foot down- and would always get the same answer. No; there was already enough stress in their life -which the constant threat of mummies and whatnot- without a pet to take care of.   
Alex still liked to look in the pet store and Rick was sure before the day was done his son would get to look at the animals. Rick, however, did not know that Alex wanted to look at the animals now.   
His son closed his new book and turned to his father. "While we're waiting for the food will you take me to look at the animals in the pet shop? Since it's right there." Alex asked, giving his father one of his innocent smiles.   
Rick looked at his son with a look of doubt. "Dad, we'll be back before the food comes. I won't take that long." Alex pleaded.   
Rick looked up at Evelyn, who shrugged. "If you promise not to take too long Alex." She said.   
Alex jumped up in happiness, shaking the table, and grabbed his father's hand. "Thanks Mum! Come on Dad!" Alex said and smiled.   
Rick kissed his wife good-bye before following his son out of the café. With permission from his father, Alex ran ahead. Rick took his time crossing the street to the sidewalk. He watched his son enter the pet shop; however, since he was busy watching Alex, Rick didn't watch where he was going and ran right into someone.   
Both he and the person he had run into, reeling backward. Rick looked at the person he had run into it; it was a young woman, around nineteen or twenty, with long brown hair, tan skin, a sliver bracelet on her left wrist with various charms, an Egyptian style necklace around her neck and a peregrine falcon perched on her shoulder. Rick's first thought was that she looked a little like Evelyn.   
"Sorry" He apologized.   
"It's okay." The girl said, she didn't speak British, as he would have guessed.   
He studied to girl for a second before saying, "You don't have a British accent."   
The girl crossed her arms; she definitely looked like Evelyn when she crossed her arms. "You don't have a British accent either." She said. Her falcon screeched and flapped his wings as if he agreed with what his master said.   
"Right; but what are you doing here in London?" Rick asked, he didn't know why he was bothering with asking questions; after all he didn't even know this girl.   
"If you have to know, I moved to Egypt when I was eighteen -which was a year ago- and I decided I didn't like Egypt anymore so I moved here, to London, to still be near Egypt." The girl answered. Some of what she said was true; she decided to leave out the fact that an evil Egyptian god had made her come to London.   
Rick was surprised how willing the girl had answered his question. "Why do you like Egypt so much?" He asked, she didn't seem like the "explorer" type.   
"You see my father was a very famous explorer and he loved Egypt so much that he married my mother, who was an Egyptian and quite an adventurer herself." The girl answered, a proud smile playing on her lips.   
Rick had heard that before, ten years ago. Last night Rick had over-heard his wife telling his son that she had a younger sister that she hadn't seen in nineteen years. Was it possible that this girl he stood talking to be her sister; it would be a hell of a coincidence but after battling mummies and half-scorpion creatures he would believe anything.   
Jennifer stared at this man; she didn't know why she had answered his questions without asking for a motive. Inside her head Anubis was commanding her to ask him if he knew where the O'Connells were. Jennifer was tempted to give her rucksack a hard kick but was afraid of what the man would think. Horus screeched again and flapped his wings; Jennifer reached a hand up to stroke one of his feet. Horus climbed onto her hand and flapped his wings.   
"Miss, you wouldn't by any chance have any brothers or sisters would you?" Rick asked, he decided it was worth a shot.   
Jennifer opened her mouth to answer but was startled by Anubis's voice in her head. "Ask him!" He yelled.   
Jennifer shook her head but quickly nodded, thinking the man would think her shaking her was "no." "Yes, but I haven't seen my brother or sister since I was a baby." Jennifer answered and dropped her rucksack roughly on the ground.   
Before Rick could say anything else Alex rushed up to him. "Dad, are you coming? There's a really cute kitten, come see!" Alex said and pulled his father's hand.   
Alex noticed the woman that his father was talking to. More importantly he noticed that the woman had a falcon perched on her hand.   
"Cool! I falcon." Alex exclaimed and his eyes will with delight. If his father knew this woman maybe he could hold her bird.   
Jennifer smiled at the child; he was cute and looked a lot like his father. "This is Horus." She said and held Horus closer to the delighted boy.   
Alex reached a hand forward and petted the bird's silky feathers. "He's really neat; you named his after the Egyptian God right?" Alex asked.   
Jennifer nodded; she was surprised that a kid his age would be interested in Egyptian history.   
"A friend of my dad's had a falcon but he got killed; I never saw the falcon though." Alex said, still petting the beautiful bird. After all a real falcon was a lot cooler then a kitten.   
"You can hold him, if you want but be careful." Jennifer said and showed the boy how to hold his arm out so Horus would sit on it.   
A delighted Alex obeyed her directions and watched as the falcon's owner placed Horus onto his arm. Alex looked up at his father and smiled his innocent smile. "Dad can I have a falcon?" He asked, showing his father how well he held the bird.   
Rick shook his head. "I don't think so; I don't think your mother would like you to have one either." He answered. He turned back to the girl. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Rick O'Connell and this is my son Alexander." Rick said.   
"Alex." The boy said, he didn't like being called Alexander, especially if he was in trouble.   
Jennifer could feel her eyes go wide; O'Connell, without even looking -well, she did look- she had found him. Inside her head Anubis was shouting things but Jennifer paid no attention.   
"Jennifer Carnahan" She said. "And you know Horus."   
At his name Horus took flight from Alex's arm and landed gracefully onto Jennifer's shoulder.   
"Carnahan?" Rick repeated, either this was the strangest coincidence he'd ever heard or this was Evelyn's sister.   
Jennifer nodded; Rick smiled. "My wife's maiden name is Carnahan." He said.   
Jennifer grinned as well; Alex just looked at his father and Jennifer, he didn't have a clue what was going on.   
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four   
  
  
  
  
Evelyn was beginning to wonder what was taking her husband and son so long at the pet shop. Their food had long since been there; both Evelyn and her brother had already eaten their meals. Evelyn looked over at her brother, Jonathan; he was ten years older then she was and taller and homely, though she would never say it to his face. His hair was brown and unkempt; his eyes matched his hair color.   
"What do you think is taking them so long?" Evelyn asked her brother.   
"Evy, they're just at the pet shop. Time must have gotten away from them, they're alright." Jonathan said, looking at his baby sister.   
Evelyn nodded, sure her brother was right but couldn't shake the worry from her head.   
  
Across the street, Rick had no idea he was worrying his wife so much. He had sent Alex into the pet shop to look with Jennifer, his aunt, while he discussed in his head what to tell Evelyn. To him, there seemed to be no other way then just to say "here's your long lost sister, ran into her by the pet shop." but he didn't think that that was the "right way" to go about the whole thing.   
Inside the pet shop Alex was asking Jennifer all sorts of questions. "Where did you get Horus?" "How come you lived in America instead of with my mum?" that sort of thing and at the same time asking her if he could hold Horus and the kittens in the pet shop cages. Jennifer was overwhelmed by the small boy's questions; she was used to younger children, her adopted parents had two younger and one older, but Alex seemed to have so much more energy then any other child she had met. Jennifer had deemed it best not to let him hold Horus in the pet shop but didn't have a problem with him picking up the kittens and wriggling puppies.   
Once Alex had run out of questions to ask his aunt he began to tell her about himself. He told her how old her was, about his slingshot -his pride and joy-, the things he liked to do and about the kittens that he wanted for his pets. Jennifer nodded every time the boy said something and looked up at her; she was really paying attention but kept getting distracted by Anubis.   
"Capture the O'Connells, take me to Amh-Shre!" He cried over and over inside her head.   
Jennifer did her best to ignore the angry Gods outbursts but it was no easy task.   
  
Evelyn had finally gotten tried of worrying and waiting so she and Jonathan left the restaurant -Jonathan paying the check- and headed over to the pet shop. She saw Rick standing outside, debating with himself but Alex was nowhere insight; probably inside.   
Jennifer and Alex had gotten bored inside the pet store so they headed back outside; the sight of a very angry Evelyn greeted them. She was yelling at Rick for leaving her and Jonathan at the restaurant for, what she was sure, over an hour. Alex guessed his mother was not just mad about the missing vase; Jennifer raised an eyebrow.  
Horus screeched, Evelyn became silent and looked over to where her son and his "guardian" -of the moment- stood; Horus flapped his wings and began to preen his feathers, he didn't like an audience.   
Evelyn and Jennifer locked eyes, which were the same color; without saying a word Evelyn knew that this was her "long lost baby sister". Jennifer felt a wave of happiness and content wash over her; she had never really had a family but now she was standing face to face with her sister. Jennifer and Evelyn embraced; the kind of embrace only sisters can give. Rick, Jonathan and Alex stood behind them.  
  
  
  
Later, everyone -including Jennifer and Horus- were back at the O'Connell manor. Jennifer had never seen any place so big; she stood in awe in the threshold of the manor. The sitting room was the first room that one would enter from the door, there was a plush couch pushed against one wall, a table was placed directly in front of it and a bookshelf was placed against another wall, in between two large windows. The entrance to the very large kitchen could partly be seen from where she stood. To her right Jennifer could see a large oak staircase that led to the second story; also to her right was a large room that Alex explained was the parlor and the study.   
Alex took Jennifer's hand and led her up the stairs to his room. Alex's room was large, Jennifer's own room back in America was nothing compared to her nephew's room.   
"This is my room." Alex said proudly and began pulling his toys out to show her. He pulled his slingshot out of his rucksack. "This is my slingshot. I got it on my sixth birthday from my Uncle John." Alex told her. He handed her the slingshot.   
Jennifer took it and looked at it closely; it was worn and well cared for. She handed it back to him.   
Alex took it and tossed it on his bed. He turned back to Jennifer, who he now understood was his aunt, his Mum and Uncle John's sister. He pointed to the bracelet around her wrist. "Where did you get that? It's pretty." He said.   
Jennifer took the bracelet off and handed it to the boy, who took it very carefully. The charms dangled and caught the light. "I've had it for a long time, I found it in America." Jennifer answered.   
Alex handed the bracelet back to her. "Why were you in America?" He asked.   
"It's a long story." Jennifer answered.   
Alex sat on the corner of his bed and patted a space beside him. "Tell me please." He pleaded, giving her his innocent smile.   
Jennifer sat on the bed beside her nephew and began to tell him the story.   
  
By the time Jennifer had told Alex about all her adventures in America and her life leading up to meeting them in the city today -leaving out meeting Anubis- the sun was setting. Alex was in-traced with her story, through the whole thing he had listened wide-eyed.   
After finishing her story, Alex began to show Jennifer his trucks and toys. They sat on the floor together and played with his trucks; with Alex's large pick-up truck they pulled Horus around. Horus flapped his wings and climbed on top of the truck; Alex laughed.   
There was a knock on the door and Rick came in. He smiled seeing that his son and Jennifer were getting a long so well so fast. "Dinner time, you guys." Rick said.   
"I didn't know it was that late." Jennifer muttered. Rick closed the door and left.   
Jennifer helped Alex pick up his trucks and together -along with Horus- they went down stairs. In the kitchen there was another room beside it, which was the dinning room. There was large polished oak table in the middle of the room; it was already set with white china plates. Evelyn and Rick were already seated, as was Jonathan. Alex ran to an empty seat.   
"Sit by me Jennifer." He said and pointed to another chair. Jennifer sat down beside Alex; she placed Horus on her shoulder, hoping it was okay for him to be at the table.   
The O'Connells cook served their food; Jennifer didn't realize how hungry she was until the plate was put in front of her. Steaming roast and vegetables were what was for dinner; everyone ate without much of a word.   
When dinner was over, Alex led Jennifer outside into the large garden that dominated the backyard. "Jennifer, we can play kick ball." He said and showed her a soccer ball; it was no longer white but green with grass stains. Jennifer agreed, still looked at the beautiful garden; Alex saw her fascination with the flowers. He explained to her what all the flowers were.   
"Jennifer, this is my favorite flower the poinsettia." He showed her a four-pelted red flower. He picked one of the blossoms and handed it to her. "Here, for you." He said and smiled.   
"Thanks, I'll put it in water later." She said and rested the floor carefully on a bench.   
Jennifer and Alex began to play kickball; it turned more into a game of catch because they didn't really have enough people to play a real game of kickball. Their game of catch ended when Horus flew onto the ball and began to roll it into the woods. Alex had a fit of laughter while Jennifer retrieved the ball and the bird.   
When Jennifer returned from the woods, she noticed how dark it had gotten. "Come on Alex, we'd better go inside before it gets too much darker." She said.   
Jennifer and Alex entered the house; Jennifer holding Horus on one fist and carefully in the other was her poinsettia blossom in the other. Jennifer and Alex were tried and sweaty and had dirt and grass all over them when they entered the house; Rick and Evelyn were playing chess in the sitting room. Evelyn took one look at Alex and Jennifer and told them to bathe immediately and get ready for bed.   
Jennifer went upstairs with Alex and helped him draw his bath; after he was in the bath Jennifer went downstairs.   
"Your garden outside is beautiful. Alex picked this for me." Jennifer said to Evelyn and showed her the blossom. "If that okay I'd like to put it in water."   
"Sure. I guess Alex showed you around." Evelyn said and led Jennifer into the kitchen.   
"Yeah, he showed me his trucks and his slingshot. After dinner we went out and played catch with his soccer ball. I didn't know it was so late already." Jennifer answered.   
Evelyn took a vase from one of the cabinets and filled it with water; Jennifer placed the poinsettia in the vase.   
"So you came from Egypt; I haven't been there in a while." Evelyn said.   
Jennifer set the vase on the dinning room table. "Well not much has changed. Lots of sand and still really hot." She said.   
Evelyn chuckled, so did Jennifer. Alex, dressed in his bedclothes, ran down the stairs and joined his mother and aunt in the kitchen. "All clean?" Evelyn asked.  
"All clean." Alex said. "Jennifer can sleep in my room tonight. Please can she?" Alex asked his mother.   
Evelyn looked at Jennifer, who shrugged. "I can just sleep on the couch tonight. Don't bother about making a bed for me." Jennifer said.   
Alex tugged Jennifer's hand. "No, sleep in my room please Jennifer. You can keep the ghosts away." He said.   
"Alex, go tell your father goodnight." Evelyn said before Jennifer could say anything.   
Alex scurried off into the parlor. Jennifer turned to her sister. "Ghosts?" She asked, sure it wasn't, as it seemed. Alex was nine, he was bound to believe in ghosts or monsters or something.   
"Bad dreams. For a year or so Alex has been having bad dreams. It's nothing really. He usually has to sleep with Rick and I; it might be a good idea for you to sleep in his room. On the floor or something, just to make him feel 'safe'". Evelyn said.   
Jennifer nodded. "Alright but I'd better get cleaned up before anything else." She said. Evelyn explained were the towels and stuff were. Jennifer took her rucksack -which held her clothes and such- and headed up stairs.   
After showering, Jennifer changed into her nightgown and headed down the hall to Alex's room. Alex was already in bed, playing with Horus. Horus seemed to like Alex; he was flapping his wings, which was a sign that he was happy. Alex had a small rubber ball in his hand and was playing "find it" with Horus; Alex would hide the ball in his hand and Horus would pick the hand with his talon. When Jennifer entered the room Horus flew onto her shoulder; Jennifer noticed that Evelyn or Rick had made a bed with sheets and quilts on the floor beside Alex's bed.   
"Ready for bed?" She asked her nephew.   
Alex looked slightly unsure. "Can Horus sleep by my bed tonight?" He asked.   
"He'll be by your bed, like I am. Right here." Jennifer said and pointed to the bed of sheets.   
Alex still seemed unsure but then he nodded. "Okay." He said and lay down in his bed, pulling the sheets up to his chin.   
Jennifer switched the light off and lay down in her bed; she lay looking up in the ceiling, the moonlight shone through Alex's window. Jennifer felt different then she had in a long time, for once someone cared about her; she had a sister, a brother and a nephew. As well as Rick, who was her brother-in-law; for once, she felt like she had a family. Feeling content and happy, Jennifer drifted off to sleep.   
  
  
Down the hall in Rick and Evelyn's bedroom, the happy couple was also laying in bed. Evelyn turned to face her husband. "You don't like her do you? You don't trust her." Evelyn said.   
Rick turned to face her, surprised at her question. "Who?" He asked, very well knowing she was talking about Jennifer.   
"My sister, Jennifer. You don't trust her I can tell the way you look at her. The way you acted when Alex and Jennifer went outside together. You don't like him being along with her." Evelyn answered.   
"It's not that Evy. All right, maybe I don't trust her that much but think about it, you haven't seen her in nineteen years and we have no idea where she was all those years. You don't know what she's like; I'm just saying we should be careful. After everything that's happened to us, I can't help but be cautious." Rick answered.   
Evelyn sighed and looked at him. "Rick, she's my sister whom I haven't seen in nineteen years. I've thought about her a lot and now, we're finally a family again. Please Rick, give her a chance."   
"All right, baby, I will for you." He said and kissed her.   
  
  
Note: The Part in this chapter when Alex tells Jennifer about his slingshot doesn't belong to me. I got it from another fanfic by Eviefan; I hope she doesn't mind if I used to. So, it belong to Eviefan not me.   
  



	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five   
  
  
Around midnight or one, Jennifer was rudely awakened by Anubis, screaming in her head. She jerked awake with a start, at first she couldn't remember where she was; the soft, normal breathing of Alex reminded her.   
"Woman! Get me out of this rucksack! Now!" Anubis screamed.   
Jennifer sat up and picked up her rucksack; taking Horus on her fist, she quietly left Alex's room and headed to the garden.   
Once outside, Jennifer opened her rucksack and took out the small Anubis statue. With a flash of light Anubis transformed into his old self. He towered above Jennifer.   
"Woman, you have found the O'Connells. You have done….well. Now, take me to Amh-Shre and awaken my army; get the O'Connells to take us to Amh-Shre." Anubis commanded.   
Jennifer grimaced, she hated the way he called her 'woman' instead of Jennifer, but she didn't expect him to care. Now what she cared about saving the O'Connells because she knew once Anubis got to Amh-Shre he would kill them. And her too; she was not going to let that happen.   
"Forget it! Get to Amh-Shre yourself." Jennifer said. Horus screeched as if to second what she had said.   
Anubis chuckled. "You have strength woman but I cannot get to Amh-Shre myself. The ones who banished me to Hamanprta and the ones who sent my army to the Underworld are the only ones who can return me to Amh-Shre to awaken my army." Anubis said.   
Jennifer looked at the ground, tears welling in her eyes; she couldn't let Anubis hurt the O'Connells. She couldn't bare anything happening to Alex.   
"Now tomorrow I will become my true form and I will get the O'Connells to take me to Amh-Shre." Anubis said. He tightened the "necklace" around her neck. Jennifer gasped for breath; Anubis released his hold, the "necklace" returned to normal. "Remember, the necklace." Anubis said.   
Behind her Jennifer and Anubis heard the door close and footfalls on the stone path. "Someone's coming." Anubis growled. With a flash of light he returned to his form of the stone statue.   
Jennifer spun around and gasped; she and Rick came face to face. Rick gasped in surprise as well; Jennifer noticed in his hand was a small pistol.   
Both Rick and Jennifer let out a breath. "Sorry, what are you doing out here? At this time of night?" Rick asked, putting the pistol in his pocket.   
Jennifer tried to muster a chuckle. "Damn insomnia." She muttered, lying. "I thought taking a walk would help. Sorry to wake you."   
Rick looked at her; he already didn't trust her but now she was pushing it. "Alright, well you'd better get inside. You could have taken a walk around the manor, it's big enough." Rick said.   
Jennifer nodded, once again apologizing. She picked up her rucksack and called Horus onto her fist. Rick noticed her rucksack; for someone suffering from insomnia she sure carried a lot with her. He decided not to ask her about it, not tonight.   
Together they went back inside; Jennifer went back up to Alex's room without a word to Rick.   
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six   
  
The next morning, Alex was up as the sun rose in the sky. Alex jumped out of bed, and ran over to Jennifer, who was still sleeping. Her face was ridden with worry, a bad dream Alex guessed. Alex shook his new friend, eager to play with her and Horus some more. Jennifer opened her eyes, startled; her breathing was quick and heavy. She looked at her nephew, waiting for her breath to return to normal; however, her heart was beating like crazy.   
Noticing the look of worry on Alex's face she said, "Bad dream."   
Alex nodded. "Yeah, I used to have bad dreams too. But last night I didn't have any, you kept the ghosts away." He said happily and threw his arms around her shoulders, hugging her.   
Surprised, Jennifer hugged him back. She felt the first hint of a "protection instinct" for the young boy. Alex pulled away from his aunt.   
Jennifer looked out the window to see the sun rise. "Alex, it's so early. What are you doing up so early like this?" She asked.   
Alex shrugged. "I always get up this early." He answered and crawled over to his toy box. "Let's play with my trucks some more." He said and opened the box.  
Jennifer helped Alex take his trucks out and he laid them on the ground. Jennifer looked at all his different trucks; some were large, like the truck that they had pulled Horus around in yesterday and some were small, no bigger then matchboxes but longer. Horus flapped over to the trucks and sat on a fire truck; he flapped his wings and screeched. Alex and Jennifer laughed. Alex finished taking all his trucks out.   
He picked up one of the small trucks and handed it to Jennifer. "You can have this one; my Mum got it for me a couple years ago." Alex said.   
Jennifer took the truck. "Alex, I can't take this one. Your mum got it for you." Jennifer said and tried to give it back.  
"Right but she's your sister, you can have it. My mum and dad got me lots of other trucks too." Alex said.   
Jennifer smiled and placed the truck by her rucksack. After Alex, Jennifer and Horus played with Alex's trucks for a while, they decided that they were hungry. Since only about an hour had gone by, everyone else in the manor was still asleep; Alex suggested that they make breakfast together. Jennifer agreed and went in the bathroom to change out of her nightgown. Alex also changed out of his bedclothes in his room; Jennifer went back into Alex's room to put her nightgown in her rucksack. She picked up the truck he had given her and slipped it in her pocket, like a good luck totem and joined Alex at the stairs. Quietly they walked down the stairs and into the kitchen; Alex, who was not tall enough to reach the countertops, pulled one of the chairs at the dinner table and pulled it up to the counter. Jennifer joined Alex at the counter.   
"What do you want for breakfast?" She asked him.  
Alex thought for a minute. "Eggs and pancakes. Blueberry pancakes." Alex answered, looking at his aunt.   
Jennifer thought for a minute; she could make eggs but pancakes that would be a task. However she nodded and told Alex to take out ingredients.   
"Eggs, flour, butter, umm other things you need to make pancakes. Oh yeah, blueberries." Jennifer said.   
Alex ran around the kitchen getting the things Jennifer asked for. Horus flew into the kitchen –he had still been asleep when Jennifer and Alex left- and landed on the counter. He screeched and began to preen his feathers; Jennifer stroked his feathers as Alex piled the ingredients on the counter.   
Jennifer stared at the pile in front of her. "Let's get started. Let's see." Jennifer mutterer and picked up the bag of flour; she turned to Alex. "Would you get me a bowl?" Jennifer asked, she still hadn't learned where everything in the house was.   
Alex climbed off his chair and reached under one of the cabinets and pulled out a large mixing bowl. He carried it to Jennifer. "Here." He said.   
Jennifer said "thank you" and took the bowl. She placed it on the counter and opened the flour. She meant to pour just a little into the mixing bowl but when she tilted the bag nearly all the flour poured into the bowl. It made of "cloud of flour" which gathered on Alex and Jennifer's clothes. "Okay", Jennifer muttered, "next." She said and reached for the eggs. Alex and Jennifer both took an egg; Jennifer cracked hers carefully on the side of the bowl. Alex couldn't crack his to he cracked it on the counter; the egg yoke fell onto the kitchen floor. Alex looked down at the yoke and then guiltily back up at Jennifer.   
"That's okay, we'll clean that up later." Jennifer said.   
Alex smiled and no longer looked sad over the lost egg. Jennifer helped Alex crack another egg, this one got in the bowl. "Right, now I think we need to make the batter." Jennifer said. She and Alex added the butter and other things into the bowl then Alex got a large wooden mixing spoon. She stirred the ingredients until they become a creamy, pasty batter. Jennifer smiled, proud with herself, she had managed to get this far.   
"Okay, we need to turn on the stove and get a pan. I'll get the pan and turn on the stove and you put the blueberries in the batter okay." Jennifer instructed her young nephew.   
Alex happily began dropping blueberries into the pancake batter. The batter around the blueberries became blue with blueberry juice.   
After a slight process Jennifer managed to get the stove on; she placed a large black pan on one of the burners. "Alright, Alex, bring the batter-bowl over here." Jennifer said.   
Alex carried to bowl over to her; some of the batter was sloshing over the sides. There was enough batter in the bowl to make over twenty medium sized pancakes. Alex set the bowl on the counter beside the stove and drug his chair over beside Jennifer. Jennifer took the bowl and spooned batter into the pan; she spooned too much of the batter into the pan. The batter filled the entire pan; Alex and Jennifer looked at each other.   
"It'll just be a really big pancake." Jennifer told her nephew. Horus screeched in agreement.   
Alex nodded and turned his attention the pancake. The batter was expanding with the heat of the pan and was overlapping the sides; some of the none cooked batter trickled down the sides of the pan.   
"We can clean that up." Jennifer muttered. The batter popped and bubbled on the pan. Some of the bubbles popped and batter got all over Jennifer and Alex's already flour covered clothes.   
Alex pointed to the bubbles. "Is it supposed to do that?" He asked, concerned.   
Jennifer shrugged; she was already aware that they had made a huge mess in the kitchen in a sort while.   
Within minutes Jennifer and Alex's first pancake was burned to a crisp. Jennifer prodded it with the wooden spoon, getting laughter from Alex. She turned to Alex with a serous look on her face. "I think it's dead." She said, as serous as she could.   
Alex just laughed some more; Jennifer pried the charred pancake off the pan and dumped it in the garbage can. "We have more batter." Jennifer said.   
To move the batter out of the way, Jennifer had placed the bowl amidst the remains of the ingredients. Jennifer walked over to the counter to get the bowl, which Horus had perched upon; his talons curved around the rim of the bowl.   
"Move Horus, I need the bowl." Jennifer said. Horus screeched –it was a wonder, Jennifer thought, that her sister and Rick hadn't woken up yet- and flew off the bowl. Jennifer watched Horus, who had perched upon the open bag of flour; the bag was leaning with Horus's weight. Horus was watching the bowl contently; Jennifer knew he was "up to something". Jennifer reached for the bowl, that's when things got out of control. Horus dive-bombed his owner, right for the bowl. He landed in the bowl, like a puppy would lay in mud- his wings flapping, sending batter everywhere. He was screeched for all he was worth and flaying in the batter.   
"Horus!" Jennifer yelled. Alex was having another fit of laughter. Jennifer's yelling sent Horus into flight; he flew out of the bowl, trailing batter everywhere. The bowl upset and spilled all over the floor and down Jennifer's shirt; she was too busy, however, to notice. Horus was making circles in the air; batter was falling from his silk feathers. Jennifer couldn't understand what her bird was doing, other then making a huge mess. Horus flew over to where Alex was, the poor boy looked like he was about to die laughing, and perched by the stove.   
Jennifer sighed and walked toward him but slipped on the batter that had fallen onto the floor. Jennifer reached up onto the counter, trying to keep her balance but it was no use; she slipped onto the floor. She did, however, manage to knock the carton of eggs off the counter. The carton was already open so when it fell, eggs splattered everywhere. From Jennifer's position on the floor most of the eggs fell on her instead of the ground. Jennifer just sighed and lay on the ground, egg running down her back and throw her hair; Alex was still laughing and Horus was screeching some more.   
Hopefully she and Alex could clean up the mess before Rick and Evelyn woke up so they would never have to know about the little "fiasco". However, as luck would have it, at that moment Rick and his wife walked into the kitchen.   
Immediately Alex stopped laughing and looked up at his father; Jennifer also looked over to her nephew's parents. Rick looked angry and Evelyn looked confused but also angry. Horus stopped screeching and flew over to Jennifer; he landed beside her head and crawled onto her back.   
Rick was first to speak. "What happened here?" He asked. His kitchen, perfectly clean last night, was now in shambles. Jennifer stood up, not bothering to brush herself off.   
Rick turned to face his son. "Alexander O'Connell was this your idea? Because if it was…" Rick began.   
"No, it was my idea." Jennifer spoke up; she couldn't stand to see Alex in trouble. "I got hungry and Alex and I came downstairs. Alex had nothing to do with it, I'm sorry." Jennifer finished.   
Alex looked at her surprised, it had all been his idea and she was getting in trouble for it.   
Rick looked anger then he had when he found her out in the garden last night. "Well then, you will clean every inch of the kitchen." Rick began.   
Evelyn looked upset. "Rick…" She began but Rick cut her off.   
"Until it looks the way it did this morning." He said and without another word he left. Evelyn and Alex looked helpless at Jennifer.   
Both her sister and her nephew offered to help her clean the kitchen but Jennifer refused. "That's alright, it won't take too long. I hope." Jennifer said.   
Leaving Jennifer (poor Jennifer, Alex said) at home to clean the kitchen, Rick, Evelyn, Alex and Jonathan went out for breakfast since there was no way to cook in "such a messy kitchen".   
Jennifer sighed and spent ten minutes teaching Horus to hold a sponge with his talons. Once Horus had mastered the sponge holding Jennifer explained to him that this was his mess and they were going to clean it together. By watching his master, Horus learned how to clean with the sponge. Together, an odd team, Jennifer and Horus managed to clean the kitchen spotless, like Rick told her to.   
Once that was done, Jennifer took Horus out into the gardens; her falcon was still covered, tail feather to beak almost, in batter. She found the watering can without much difficulty and filled it with water. By now the batter had caked in his feathers and under his feathers and all over him so Jennifer spent over an hour cleaning him. She still wasn't finished when she heard the front door open and shut and heard Alex's footsteps running toward the kitchen. Jennifer ran her fingers through Horus's feathers and poured water on him. Horus screeched and flapped his wings, spraying her with water.   
Seconds later Alex had found her and her bird out in the garden. "Can I help you wash Horus?" He asked. Jennifer nodded and showed him how to get the batter of his feathers.   
  
Inside the manor, Rick was telling his beloved wife that he had had enough of Jennifer, even though she had only been there a day and half.   
"Rick, give her another chance. I'm sure she didn't mean to make a mess in the kitchen, not like that and I'm not sure that it was her idea." Evelyn said, looking pleadingly at her husband.   
"Evy, whether it was her idea or not she has some 'bad qualities' and I don't want her rubbing off on Alex." Rick said, averting his eyes from his wife.   
Evelyn frowned. "'Bad qualities', Rick she is my sister." Evelyn said.  
"Yes, but Jonathan is your brother." Rick retorted.   
Evelyn frowned and sighed. She realized that once Rick had his mind set on something, there was no way to change it. She turned around and walked into the parlor without saying a word to Rick.   
Rick frowned and slumped down on the couch. Now Evelyn was mad at him, maybe Jennifer wasn't as bad as he thought she was but he didn't want to take the chance.   
  
Outside, Alex and Jennifer had managed to get Horus cleaned. Jennifer realized that she hadn't been able to change clothes yet. With Horus perched on her shoulder, Jennifer and Alex left the gardens and went into the manor. Rick was still sitting on the couch but he didn't look at Jennifer or Alex when the came up the stairs and headed to his room. Jennifer pulled a clean shirt from her rucksack as well as clean shorts and headed into the bathroom, leaving Alex in his room to play with Horus. Jennifer changed clothes and placed the little truck Alex had given her in her clean shorts pocket. She looked at herself in the mirror and frowned. Batter and egg were all dried in her hair; she bent her head into the sink basin and turned the water on. After fifteen minutes of scrubbing and pulling out "bed-tangles", Jennifer lifted her head. She felt a rush of dizziness but it quickly went away; her hair was clean now but it was wet and tangled. It fell messily down her face and down her back.   
  
Jennifer left the bathroom –taking her soiled clothes with her- and joined Alex back in his room. Alex had gathered up lots of his trucks. "Jennifer, lets go outside and play with my trucks in the garden. I'll show you my tree-fort too." Alex said, happily.   
Horus flew onto Jennifer's shoulder; she helped the boy with some of his trucks and then they went outside.   
  
Jennifer failed to notice that when she pulled her clothes out of her rucksack the small Anubis statue had fallen out. Now that everyone was out of the room Anubis decided to make his appearance. He reverted to his true form and growled; today he was going to make the O'Connells take him to Amh-Shre.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven   
  
  
Alex and Jennifer played in Alex's tree-fort for over an hour. Alex's favorite game was to pull Horus around on his trucks; Horus seemed to enjoy it too. However, Jennifer wasn't enjoying playing with Alex at the moment; there was something wrong, she couldn't place the feeling but it tingled in her gut. She kept looking over the manor from the tree-fort's high window but nothing seemed out of place. Yet she couldn't shake her feeling. Finally she couldn't take it anymore.   
"Alex let's go inside now. I think it's almost lunch time." Jennifer said, using lunch as an excuse to get back in the house.   
Alex shrugged. "My dad or mum always comes to tell me when it's lunch time." Alex said and went back to pulling Horus along.   
Now Jennifer was a little worried, the sun was high in the sky signaling that it was past noon. "Okay but aren't you a little hungry? Maybe we could help them make lunch." Jennifer suggested.   
Alex looked up at his aunt. "Alright, I am a little hungry." He said.   
The climbed down the ladder of the tree-fort and "raced" to the house. Jennifer let Alex's win but using the race as an excuse to hurry to the house.   
  
Inside the house, Jennifer's worries were well justified. Soon after Alex and Jennifer left to play outside in the fort, Evelyn had come and apologized to Rick. He also apologized (they kissed and made up) and for the last ten minutes that had been talking about Jennifer.   
Five minutes ago was when Anubis made his appearance; now Rick held the jackal creature at bay with one of the sword/artifacts. Anubis wasn't scared by Rick's "little sword" (and he told Rick so) but he was slightly amused by it. These were the O'Connells that were supposed to take him to Amh-Shre, and they were also the people who had banished his army but they didn't seem so tough.   
Jennifer opened the door that lead to the garden and entered the manor. He saw Rick standing with the sword raised, Evelyn behind him protectively and knew that Anubis was here.   
Jennifer rushed into the sitting room, Alex right behind her. Anubis, Rick and Evelyn all turned their direction. Jennifer held a protective hand in front of Alex, keeping him behind her. Alex shrunk back behind his niece; the jackal was tall and had its teeth bared, it was the thing from his nightmares.   
Anubis looked at Jennifer. "Jennifer", he said, "I was waiting for you." He growled, his gruff voice sent shivers down her spine.  
Rick and Evelyn looked at her; Rick's face was a mask and anger and betrayal. Jennifer grimaced, the one time he has to call her by her name it has to be when he first shows up. He was trying to get the O'Connells "off her side" and he was succeeding.   
Horus screeched at the sight of Anubis. Anubis tightened the "necklace" a little; he drew Jennifer toward him, so unseen strength. Anubis forced Jennifer to stand beside him.   
"Now O'Connell, you will take me to Amh-Shre to raise my army of warriors from the Underworld where you imprisoned them." Anubis commanded.   
Without the protection of Jennifer, Alex ran over to hide behind his mother. Evelyn hugged him close to her.   
Rick looked at Jennifer; she couldn't bare the hatred in his eyes. "You, you brought him here didn't you. I knew there was something I didn't trust." Rick said, his eyes were fixed on Jennifer.   
Anubis wrapped a clawed paw around Jennifer's shoulder, his claws scratched her skin. "Yes, with her help I have come to London. Now, you must take me to Amh-Shre or I will kill her." Anubis growled and tightened the "necklace" around her neck.   
He tightened it this time like he had never before; Jennifer choked and gasped for breath. She fell to her knees and pulled at the necklace.   
"Jennifer!" Alex cried, he would have run to her side but the creature was beside her. He was afraid of the creature.   
Jennifer bowed her head, still gasping for breath. Rick lowered the sword. "Alright." He muttered.   
Anubis released Jennifer from the strangling grasp. She coughed and fell forward, her head close to the ground. She was still gasping for breath but at least she could breath now. She glare up at Anubis, she was just his pawn to get Rick and the others to go to Amh-Shre.   
Anubis smiled; the smile was horrid and would haunt Jennifer for a long time. "Good, then we go. Now." Anubis commanded.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight   
  
  
  
  
  
  
And by "now" Anubis really meant now; the O'Connells and Jennifer didn't have time to pack or anything. Anubis led his prisoners to the outskirts of London where they were startled to find that Anubis had a train -yes a train waiting for them. It seemed, like the O'Connells' old buddy Imhotep, that the God of the Dead had "connections" with mortals. Standing by the train was a young woman, no older then Jennifer but no younger either; her hair was long and midnight black and she wore Egyptian style robes to shield her from the sun. When she saw Anubis and his prisoners approaching she walked to meet them. She eyed the O'Connells, especially Jennifer; Anubis turned to face his "helper".   
For once the large jackal decided to be "polite". "This is Sahure." Was all the jackal said.   
Sahure faced the prisoners. "This train will take us to Amh-Shre, with your direction. Cooperate and you will live." Sahure said. And with that she and her master boarded the train.   
Anubis turned around. "Aboard the train. Now!" Anubis commanded.   
The four prisoners -and one bird- did as they were told. To Alex, the train looked just like the once Imhotep and his mistress and had taken him captive on. The cars were long and all looked the same; the seats were pressed against the sides of the cars. Red, plush cushions provided some comfort; aside from the engine car, everything looked the same.   
Jennifer didn't know how long the train tracks went but she knew that the train wouldn't take them all the way to Amh-Shre. They would have to do some walking, in the hot desert but until then, she would enjoy the train.   
Sahure entered the car the O'Connells and Jennifer were in; she shut the main door to the car. Jennifer heard a large, solid "click" telling her the car door was locked. Sahure told the prisoners that until the train tracks ran out, they would not leave that car. And "that's a promise"; Jennifer watched her leave, heading to the engine car where she was sure Anubis was.   
Jennifer sighed and sat down on one of the seats pressed against the side of the train. Horus climbed off her shoulder and down her arm; he screeched and looked around. Jennifer looked up at the O'Connells, who were still looking around the car. She could tell Rick and Evelyn were already thinking of a way to get them out of the car. Jennifer didn't dare say anything to the O'Connells, especially Rick. Rick was certain that this was all her fault -Jennifer was sure; he was right, as far as she was concerned, if it wasn't for her, they would still be in London living their normal lives. But she had to come and turn everything upside down, and she wasn't even there for more then two days.   
Alex looked over at his aunt; he sat down beside her. Beneath them, Anubis's prisoners could feel the train start. There was a soft vibrating, it was almost soothing, and the rumble of the wheels against the metal train tracks. Jennifer stared out the window; sand was all that could be seen, all there was to see. Jennifer shut her eyes and listened to the sound of the moving train.   
  
Hours later, the light was fading from inside the car. There were no working lights in the car so the only light was the sun, which was sinking below the horizon. The sky was a brilliant pink, blue and golden color; Jennifer had never seen a sunset so beautiful. For the past three or four hours they -Jennifer and the O'Connells- had been trying to find a way out. Rick and Jennifer had also gotten in several arguments, all put to a stop by Evelyn, who hardly ever yelled but had been doing a lot of yelling for the past three or four hours. Alex had stayed seated, with Horus in his lap, while all the fighting and attempts to escape were going on.   
Now, Jennifer was seated on the floor watching the sunset. The attempts to escape had been given up upon ten minutes ago. The prisoners had tried everything; the car door was locked tightly, the windows were bolted. They were trapped in the train, heading to Amh-Shre.   



	9. Chapter Nine

  
Chapter Nine   
  
  
  
  
  
Rick sighed and looked around the train; there was no way of getting out. This was all Jennifer's fault, if it weren't for the fact that she was Evelyn's sister Rick would have killed her. She had been working for Anubis, and had him right to him, his wife and his son. If only he had know, now they were back where they had been no more then a year ago.   
Rick shook all the thoughts from his head; they would get out of this, they always had before. And then he would make Jennifer pay.   
  
Night had fallen and the prisoners had spread out along the train. Or rather, the O'Connells had moved to an adjoining car, leaving Jennifer alone in the first car. The prisoners hadn't seen any sight of Anubis or Sahure since the train had started toward its destination. Jennifer was spread out on one of the train's long seats, in the clothes she had changed out of after the "kitchen disaster". Thinking back on that thought, it seemed like it had taken place years ago. It wasn't cold in the car but it wasn't hot either, though they were in the middle of the desert. Jennifer was used to the drastic drop in temperature come nightfall in the desert but she was usually inside before it got too cold. However, tonight she would feel the effects of the dropping temperature. The prisoners had found blankets but only two; Rick and Evelyn took one and Jennifer let Alex have the other one.   
Horus cuddled up closer to her; he would provide some warmth but not a lot. Jennifer could hear the O'Connells talking in the adjoining car; she couldn't really make out what they were saying though.   
  
In the car adjoining to the one Jennifer was in. Evelyn and Rick were trying to persuade Alex to go to bed because he would need his rest in the morning but the young boy refused. "Why does Jennifer have to stay in the other car by herself?" Alex asked his parents.   
Neither Rick nor Evelyn had an answer for their son's question so they stayed silent. "Jennifer didn't do anything wrong. In fact, with her in my room I didn't have any nightmares last night." Alex pointed out.   
Rick didn't like Alex making Jennifer look like a saint when it was her fault that they were in "trouble" in the first place. "That's enough Alex, now go to bed." Rick said firmly.   
Alex closed his mouth and laid down on one of the side seats.   
Evelyn also didn't say anything. She didn't fully believe that Jennifer absolutely responsible for them being captured but she also didn't fully believe that her sister innocent of everything Rick thought about her. Evelyn, however, kept her mouth shut; now was not the time to be arguing.   
  
A few hours later, the train had gone silent. All that could be heard was the sound of the wheels against the metal tracks. Jennifer was wide-awake; it was almost impossible for her to sleep. The walls of the train did not stop the chilly temperature of the desert and Jennifer was freezing. Jennifer was sitting upright with her knees drawn up to her chin, shivering. Horus was also shaking and had his feathers roused up; the falcon looked like a ball of fluff that one would find under a rarely cleaned sofa. Jennifer gazed out the window; the desert sky always looked so beautiful. You could see every star in the sky and the moon's rays cast beautiful shadows on the sandy ground. Tonight, however, Jennifer didn't care very much about how beautiful the sky looked. Jennifer would often gaze out of her hotel window in Cairo and look at the sky; you couldn't see it as well in Cairo because of the city's lights. Looking at the Egyptian sky always reminded her of her home in America, which she never missed. She and her foster family lived in a cabin in the mountains were you could always see the stars over the crest of pine trees. Jennifer never missed that house; it never felt like home so why miss it. Her foster mother, Natalie, had told her that home was the most important place in the world. "Home is where your history begins", she had said, "Home is where they catch you when you fall." Jennifer knew that she would never feel that why about anything; last night when she had returned to Alex's room from the garden meeting with Anubis, Jennifer lay thinking that maybe she would be able to live here, with her sister and real family and finally know where "home" was. But now, she knew that would never happen because of Anubis and the "predicament" that they were in now.   
Jennifer shook all thoughts from her bed. Because her mind was "free" at that moment, she heard the door that joined the car she was in to the car the O'Connells were in creak open. Jennifer turned around to face the noise; she was surprised to see Alex standing in the doorway. In his hand was the blanket that Jennifer had sacrificed for the boy; his fist was closed tightly around it.   
"Alex, what are you doing?" Jennifer asked. She realized how stupid the question sounded. "What are you doing awake?" She rephrased.   
Alex closed the car door slowly and walked over to Jennifer. "I couldn't sleep so I decided to come and see if you were awake too." Alex answered.   
Jennifer told Alex he could sit beside her; the boy sat beside his aunt and handed her the blanket. Jennifer wrapped the large blanket around both their shoulders. Horus nestled between the two; Alex laid his head on Jennifer's shoulder.   
"I'm scared Jennifer, this thing is like the monster in my nightmares." Alex whispered, he was already beginning to feel better being near Jennifer. Only his mother and Jennifer made him feel safe; oh, and his father too but there was something about his mother and his aunt that made him feel better.   
"Don't worry Alex." Jennifer said, that was all she could think of to say. She began to wonder why Alex had been having nightmares about Anubis. It was impossible that the boy had seen the God before, wasn't it? "Alex, why come you have nightmares about Anubis?" Jennifer asked.   
Alex hesitated; his parents had told him not to tell anyone of their adventures in Amh-Shre but Jennifer seemed to know a lot already about the God of Death. So, like Jennifer had told Alex of her past, Alex began to tell Jennifer of their adventures in Amh-Shre.   
A couple of days ago Alex's story would have seemed pretty strange to her but listening to her nephew tell the story now Jennifer believed every word of it.   
Now Jennifer understood why Rick "hated" her so much. Now it was even more important to Jennifer that she figure out a way for the O'Connells and herself to escape from Anubis's imprisonment before the army of Anubis was aroused.   



	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten   
  
  
  
The next morning, Jennifer didn't even realize that she had fallen asleep the previous night before. She was surprised to be awakened by her sister.   
Before the sun had risen, Evelyn and her husband were well awake. When they noticed their son was gone, they were swept with panic. Evelyn opened the door that joined the two cars together to see his sister and her son asleep on the seat. Evelyn and Rick calmed down quickly and Evelyn went to awaken her sister.   
By the time the sun rose, all the prisoners were awake and each of them were thinking of different ways to escape. Jennifer, however, had run into a dead end a long time ago. She was stroking Horus's feathers and trying to look like she was thinking of escaping. Evelyn looked over at her sister and at Horus; suddenly, Evelyn got an idea.   
"That's it." She proclaimed. The others looked at her, they didn't have a clue with "it" was.   
"We'll send Horus to find Ardeth-Bay and alert the Medji of Anubis and his plan." Evelyn said.   
Jennifer cocked her head. "How does that save us?" She wasn't the least bit confused about the Medji, Alex had explained about them last night.   
"Well, once Ardeth-Bay gets the message maybe he'll come rescue us." Evelyn suggested.   
Rick nodded. "How does Horus find Ardeth-Bay?" He asked, more to himself then to his wife.   
"Jennifer can tell Horus what he looks like and then Horus can find him." Alex suggested, having total confidence that Horus could fully understand Jennifer. Which, he could.   
With help from the other prisoners, Jennifer explained to Horus that he needed to find the man they were describing to him. To write a message to Ardeth-Bay, Rick tore off a bit of one of the blankets -which were white, by the way- and after scouring the entire train, except the head car, the prisoners finally found a pencil. Evelyn wrote the message on the cloth and then tied it to Horus's leg. At first Horus tried to pull the cloth off but Jennifer stopped him. After making sure everything was "prefect" and Horus knew where he was going, the prisoners went to work on finding a way to get Horus out of the train. The only way seemed to be the window but that wouldn't budge, if it had they would have already attempted to escape. They searched the train again but none of the windows would budge even an inch.   
The prisoners all met again in the room that Jennifer and Alex had stayed in last night. "Well, if the windows won't open, we'll have to break them open." Rick said simply.   
"Why didn't we do that before?" Jennifer muttered.   
"But if we break a big-enough hole, the sound of the breaking glass is sure to alert Anubis." Evelyn pointed out.   
"Alright, so we'll make a small hole but you forgot one thing, we don't have anything to break it with." Jennifer pointed out.   
"Then we'll have to find something." Rick snapped back.   
Jennifer looked up at him but didn't say anything. "What?" She retorted, she wasn't the one to engage in a verbal argument but that didn't mean she wasn't capable of one.  
Evelyn saw a fight coming and intervened. "We'll just have to find something. We'll have to search the train again." Evelyn said.   
Alex groaned. "We've already searched the train lots of times." He moaned.   
"Yes but each time we've been looking for something else." Evelyn told her son.   
The prisoners spilt up again; Jennifer took the front of the train, this time. Instead of looking for something to break the window with, Jennifer worked up her courage and headed to the main car of the train to "spy" on Anubis and Sahure. Maybe she could overhear some of their plans or whatnot. Jennifer crept up to the door of the main-car as quiet as she could and leaned her ear against the door to see if she could overhear anything.   
Inside the car Anubis and Sahure were having a "conversation". "The tracks should run out at anytime." Sahure said.   
"Yes, then we will make the journey on foot. The O'Connells will point us in the direction of Amh-Shre." Anubis answered.   
"What if the O'Connells refuse?" Sahure asked, there was a tint of fear in her voice at asking her "master" too many questions.   
"They cannot, if they do we will kill one of the prisoners." Anubis answered.   
In front of the door, Jennifer frowned; that was not good. As quietly as she came to the car, she backtracked. When she was in the car the O'Connells slept in last night, she finally let out her breath, which she had been holding since she got to the car.  
Inside the other car, the O'Connells had already gathered. None of them had anything that could be used to break any of the windows on the train. When Jennifer entered, she also had nothing so the prisoners were back to plan A. However, now the prisoners had more bad news to throw into their need to escape.   
Jennifer conveyed the information she had overheard to the O'Connells; Horus was perched on her hand, he appeared to be listening as well.   
Rick gave an exasperated, angry sigh and looked at Jennifer. "Are you sure Anubis said that the tracks could run out any time?" Rick asked, though he was sure he heard Jennifer right the first time.   
Jennifer nodded; her mind was racing with what else Anubis had said. Jennifer had left out the part about killing one of them.   
"Well, we need to send Horus with the message now before we have to start out for Amh-Shre. If we release him while we're walking, Anubis will surely see him." Evelyn said, though she was aware that the last part of the sentence wasn't necessary.   
Jennifer looked around the room and trying to think of things that would break through a window. "We'll just have to risk making noise." Jennifer muttered and stood up. She told the O'Connells to stay in this car; she'd only be a second.   
Jennifer headed to the dinning car; all the tables and chairs were nailed down to the floor, which was the reason the O'Connells hadn't used one of the chairs or tables to escape. However, Jennifer was sure that it wouldn't be too hard to pull one of the chairs out of the ground. After all, they were only nailed. Jennifer tried prying up one of the tables but couldn't do it by herself, they were nailed pretty tightly.   
Jennifer hurried back to the car where the O'Connells were waiting. "I think I have an idea but I'm going to need some help." Jennifer said. Finally, they had an idea.   



	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven   
  
  
  
  
Jennifer led the O'Connells into the dinning car. When they first entered the car, Rick sighed. "We've already searched in here, there's nothing that can help us." He told his wife's sister, whom he still held a strong dislike in.   
Jennifer rolled her eyes and headed to the table that she had tried to lift by herself. "This is what we're going to do," Jennifer began, totally ignoring Rick's comment, "someone help me pry this table off the ground. I tried already but I can't do it by myself." Jennifer said, looking at the O'Connells.   
"Then what?" Alex asked. "You're not saying we should throw the table threw the window are you?" Alex asked, his eyes growing wide. Jennifer shook her head, surprised. "'Cause that would be cool." Alex muttered.   
"We can break one of the table legs off and make a hole in the window. Horus can squeeze through that." Jennifer said and petted her falcon's tail feathers.   
Evelyn had warmed up to the idea. "I don't why we didn't think of that before." She muttered.   
Together, Jennifer and Rick managed to pry the table off of the floor. The boards snapped splintered when the table finally came free. Jennifer sighed as though a huge weight had just been lifted, which it had.   
Jennifer and Rick turned to table onto its side so that two of the legs were up in the air. "So, what next?" Rick asked his sister-in-law.   
Jennifer studied the legs of the table that were in the air. Jennifer grasped the leg closest to her in her hands; she pulled the leg close to her with all her might but it wouldn't budge. Jennifer's knuckles turned white and her muscles strained but pulling the table leg off was not as easy as Jennifer thought it would be.   
After over ten minutes of pulling and refusing all help from the O'Connells, the table leg snapped off the table. Jennifer and the table leg went flying backward. Jennifer went crashing to the floor, dazed but aware that she had freed the table leg.   
Evelyn helped her sister up, making sure the girl was unhurt. Jennifer looked at the table leg and then to the train window. "So, how hard do you think these windows are?" She asked.   
The O'Connells all shrugged, which was all right because Jennifer didn't expect them to know the answer to her question. She walked over to the window and tapped on it, lightly, with the table leg. After studying the window for a few seconds, Jennifer clutched the table leg tightly in her right hand. She brought her right arm back and then thrust the table leg into the window. Surprised at how easy the window broke, Jennifer dropped the table leg onto the sound below the moving train. Jennifer hand went through the hole in the window nearly up to her elbow. Jennifer slowly pulled her hand back and checked it over; a few bleeding scratches but nothing major. The O'Connells ran over to Jennifer; Evelyn once again checked her sister over and finally determined that there was no "life-threatening" problem.   
The hole that Jennifer had made in the window was about one-time thicker then the table leg itself. Since the table leg wasn't very thick, the hole wasn't very big but Jennifer had full confidence that her bird could fit through the hole.   
The only problem was, the falcon wasn't so sure about that fact himself. Horus looked at the hole and then up at Jennifer; he screeched and ruffled his feathers. "Horus, come on you can fit through that hole." Jennifer said, stroking the bird's ruffled feathers. Jennifer held her bird closer to the hole and nudged him forward with her injured hand. Horus screeched and fit himself through the hole. The split second he was outside Horus spread his wings and rose up on the hot desert air. He flew around the train for a few seconds while Jennifer reminded him of his job: To find Ardeth-Bay. Horus screeched and coasted on thermals, he didn't seem too happy leaving his master.   
  
  
In the main car of the train, Anubis and Sahure were having another conversation. "The train-tracks run out right up here." Sahure was telling Anubis.   
"I know that woman." Anubis growled, he didn't like being told things he already knew.   
Sahure said her apologizes quickly. "Should I go get the prisoners ready for the journey." Sahure asked.   
Anubis didn't answer. Finally he said, "Yes, but I will come with you."   
  
After shutting off the car, the two left the windowless car and ventured into the second car, where Jennifer had spied. Sahure looked out the window to see none other then the falcon-bird doing spins in the air. Sahure listened carefully and heard the prisoners telling the bird to "find help". Sahure quickly pointed the bird out to Anubis.   
The jackal-headed man was beside himself with rage. He stormed off toward the car he had left his prisoners in. Sahure hurried behind him but paused and ran back to the car they had been in previous seconds ago. Sahure entered to car and headed to a cabinet; this was the cabinet where the conductor or whoever would keep the weapons to protect the train from bandits and whatever they could encounter in desert. Sahure opened to cabinet and studied the contents: four pistols, two long-necked guns and one crossbow. Sahure thought quickly and grabbed the crossbow and one of the long-necked guns. She hurriedly ran out of the car and hurried to catch up with Anubis.   
Anubis was in the car that Sahure had "locked" the O'Connells in the previous day. The God was dumbfounded to see the prisoners were gone. Sahure entered the room and noticed the absence of prisoners as well. "Here, we should go outside and shoot the bird before it flies away." Sahure said and trust one of the weapons to Anubis. The God took the long-necked gun from his minion and commanded her to unlock the car door.   
  
Horus still refused to fly away from his master like she told him to do. He coasted on the thermals and did air tricks on the wind, like Jennifer had taught him when he was a fledging. "Go Horus!" Jennifer commanded, she was shouting through the hole in the window. Beneath her feet, Jennifer felt the train stop. She looked up at her sister, who looked at her husband. "The train stopped." Evelyn said, no need to state the obvious.  
"Go Horus! Hurry!" Jennifer cried and banged as hard as she could on the window, hoping to scare the bird away. The glass cracked under her beating hands, spider-web cracks ran up the glass a ways.   
The banging of the window didn't scare Horus; he just screeched and did more "tricks". Out of the corner of her eye, Jennifer saw to figures emerge from the other side of the train. Jennifer turned her attention to the two figures. She gasped when she realized that they were Anubis and Sahure. They had seen Horus -more then likely- and were coming out to "deal" with it; Jennifer could tell because both of them carried weapons.   
"Horus!" Jennifer cried and franticly began banging on the glass. She couldn't let them kill Horus; Horus had really been her only friend when she was living in America with her foster parents and had stayed loyal to her from the moment he hatched.   
  
Outside, both Sahure and Anubis readied their weapons to shoot the bird, in case the other missed. Sahure threaded the arrow through the chamber and Anubis cocked the gun with unbelievable expertise. Jennifer saw them point the weapons at her bird, from inside the train. Jennifer decided there was only one thing to do and that was get out of the train and call Horus before they got a chance to fire their weapons. At the time, it seemed like a great idea to Jennifer, backing up and ramming the window with her shoulder. She would only break the glass off and then climb out the window, it would work perfectly. Yeah, right. Jennifer backed up and rammed the glass with her shoulder. Jennifer, however, had forgotten how easy the glass broke when she pounded it. The glass shattered off and Jennifer realized she had nothing to stop herself on. Jennifer went tumbling out the window along with the glass; when she fell forward, her cut was cut upon the glass that still hung on the windowpane. Jennifer lay on the ground, in the sand and shards of glass, a little more then dazed.   
"Jennifer!" Evelyn screamed. Alex's breath caught in his throat as he thought about what might have happened to his aunt. Even Rick felt a slight pang of fear for the girl.   
At the sound of the breaking glass, Anubis and Sahure were distracting from tracking their target. They lowered their weapons and turned to see what had happened. Jennifer was lying on the ground, where she had fallen when she tumbled out of the window. On her sides, her shirt was ripped slightly and blood trickled from the cuts; Jennifer's arms and legs as well as her face were also cut and bleeding.   
Anubis, however, didn't stay impressed by the sight that everyone else couldn't tear their eyes away from. He rose to long-necked gun and tracked the bird again. Horus, however, was no longer doing his air tricks; upon seeing Jennifer tumble out of the train, he began to hover in the air. This made him a prefect target for Anubis. Anubis fired the gun but his sights were off by a few centimeters. The bullet whizzed past Horus's wing; the bird screeched, surprised.   
The shot of the gun and the screech of her bird seemed to shock Jennifer out of whatever state she was in. When the gun went off, Jennifer's eyes opened. Her eyes showed that she was slightly disoriented and surprised. She turned her head around to the sky to see her bird fine but screeching his head off. Jennifer staggered to her feet and ran toward Anubis and Sahure. Anubis was cocking his gun again and Sahure was trailing Horus again.   
As soon as Jennifer opened her eyes, the O'Connells were busy clearing the chipped glass away from the windowpane. Now that Jennifer was up, the other prisoners jumped out of the train to aid Jennifer in her efforts to save.   
As Anubis wrapped a claw around the trigger of the gun, Jennifer tackled the large jackal-man to ground. Mind you, this was no easy task but she and the jackal bother hit the sand. The gun Anubis had went off, missing Horus by and long shot and then fell in the sand. Anubis clawed Jennifer with his claws, trying to free himself. Jennifer managed to keep the God pinned to the ground.   
But not for long; Anubis smacked Jennifer across the head with his paw and knocked Jennifer off him. Jennifer landed beside the long-necked gun and blinked. She reached forward and snatched it off the ground; Sahure saw watch she planned to do and pointed to the crossbow at her. Jennifer fumbled with cocking the gun but finally managed to do it.   
Evelyn, Rick and Alex joined the fry right as Sahure pulled the shoot on the crossbow. The arrow was aimed to shrike Jennifer above the hand; no need to kill her now, there would be plenty of time for that later. Sahure was a prefect shot with the crossbow; the arrow shot forward and grazed Jennifer's hand. Jennifer yelped, more in surprise than pain, and dropped the gun.   
Jennifer turned to Sahure who was loading another arrow into the chamber of the crossbow. Anubis rose to his feet and charged toward Jennifer; better to kill her now then risk her causing problems latter on. Anubis tackled Jennifer to the ground just as she had done to him. Jennifer trashed under the jackal-man's weight but it was no use, she was no match for him.   
Sahure aimed the crossbow at Horus, who was still more confused then anything. She fired the gun; the arrow brushed Horus's tail feathers and pulled one out. Horus screeched and took off flying, as though he finally understood that's what he was supposed to do all along. Sahure watched Horus disappear in the distance and cursed the bird under her breath.   
Jennifer saw Horus fly away out of the corner of her eye. Jennifer sighed in relief but that relief was short lived; Anubis raised one of his clawed paws to strike Jennifer again. Jennifer reached behind her and grabbed a fistful of sand; she hurled the sand at Anubis's face. The jackal roared in surprise and pain as the sand stung his eyes; the roar was an unearthly sound that Jennifer never cared to hear again. Jennifer backed away from the jackal, pulling herself backward with her elbows.   
Evelyn ran over to her sister and helped her up. Evelyn felt the instincts to protect her younger sister, even if her sister didn't need protecting.   
Sahure saw that if someone didn't do something quick, she and Anubis were sure to lose the battle and the prisoners would go free. Sahure reloaded the crossbow and pointed the weapon at Jennifer and Evelyn. This time, she aimed to kill one of the sisters.   
Rick saw Sahure point the crossbow at his wife and sister-in-law and reacted immediately reacted. Before Sahure had a chance to pull the release on the weapon, Rick used the same tactic Jennifer had used. Since Sahure was close to the adventure, Rick grabbed a fist full of sand and hurled it at Sahure. Sahure cried out in surprise and flung the weapon away; she began rubbing at her eyes with her fists, trying to rub the sand away.   
The crossbow made a "thump" as it hit the ground behind Jennifer and her sister. They both turned around to see what had made the sound; Jennifer saw the crossbow and smiled, this was the golden opportunity. They now had a weapon.   
Anubis growled as he blinked his eyes, which had finally been removed of sand. He would make her pay! Yes, he would kill her slowly and he would enjoy it. However, now was not the time to kill, not yet. Anubis saw the girl dive for the crossbow and make sure the arrow was fitted securely in the chamber. She swung the crossbow and around and pointed it at him.   
Jennifer grabbed the crossbow and made sure the arrow was fitted in the chamber. It was a useless action because Jennifer wouldn't have known what was the "right" way and what was the "wrong" way to put an arrow in the crossbow. She pointed the crossbow at Anubis and wrapped one hand around the trigger, just in case. "Don't move!" She commanded, locking eyes with the God of Death.   
Anubis stood, not in fear but in planning. He was planning what to do now; he was not afraid of his prisoner and her useless weapon. He locked eyes with Jennifer and saw that her eyes were full of fire; she was full of courage and determination, Anubis would enjoy getting rid of all of that. Anubis half-smiled at the thought of killing Jennifer but seeing her eyes go weak with fear and pain before he did so.   
Sahure saw Jennifer point the crossbow at Anubis through blurry eyes. Damn that man! She would make him pay, for sure but good things came to those who waited. Now was the time to save her master, her God. "Don't move!" Sahure heard Jennifer shout, Jennifer was brave that was for sure. Sahure hated her. All the other prisoners had their attention focused on Jennifer and Anubis, not even aware -it seemed- that Sahure was there. On the ground, nestled in the sand, was the long necked rifle. Sahure carefully picked it up, slowly so that no one would notice her. She gripped the neck of the rifle in her hand, using in like a club. Before anyone knew what happened, Sahure had clubbed Jennifer as hard as she could across the back of the head. Before Jennifer even knew what hit her, she was unconscious.   
  
  



	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve   
  
  
  
Horus was tried of flying. The falcon had been flying for hours; he would have stopped sooner but there was nowhere to land. All that was below him was sand; all that was above him was blue sky.   
Ahead, Horus finally saw something; a small camp, many horses but almost no one in sight. Perhaps this was the place his master had told him to go. Maybe, he would fly there anyway. He needed to rest.   
  
In a small camp, with many horses -but not nearly enough people to ride them all, so it seemed- a man sat. He was dressed in desert clothes, long black "robes"; the man had black hair and "strange" tattoo like markings on his cheeks and forehead. His name was Ardeth-Bay and he was the leader of the desert warriors called Medji. Ardeth-Bay was a quiet man, a warrior who preferred to keep to himself.   
Ardeth-Bay looked up into the desert sky; almost no clouds in sight, as always. However, coming toward the camp was a shape, indistinctive. The shape came closer and Ardeth-Bay recognized it as a peregrine falcon, not unlike the one he had lost almost a year ago. The falcons were associated, it seemed, with Egypt and the desert. Seeing one flying across the sky wasn't rare but Ardeth-Bay was suddenly interested in the coming of the bird. The bird was heading right toward the camp; yes, this falcon definitely meant "something".   
As the bird came closer, Ardeth-Bay held out his hand for the bird to land on. The bird alighted on his hand; it was a trained bird so it belonged to something. Seeing a trained, pet falcon in the desert was rare. Ardeth-Bay was even more interested in the bird now.   
The bird screeched and flapped its wings when it alighted on his outstretched hand. Ardeth-Bay noticed that around the bird's leg was a cloth or part of a cloth, rolled tightly. Ardeth-Bay unrolled the cloth and looked at it; it was a message, like the ones that he, himself, used to send with his bird. The message was from the O'Connells; they had been captured by the God of Death Anubis and were being taken to Amh-Shre. There, Anubis was going to raise his army; the Medji had to stop him. However, in the note the O'Connells said nothing of getting a falcon or whom the falcon belonged to so Ardeth-Bay figured that the bird belonged to someone else that had also been captured. That didn't matter now, however; he had to raise his own army and stop Anubis before he rose the deadly army.   



	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen   
  
  
After knocking Jennifer unconscious, Sahure rejoined the side of Anubis. Sending Sahure back into the train to get binds, Anubis rallied the prisoners up. Jennifer wasn't a problem anymore, not now at least; when she woke up she would be too confused and head-sore to really think and before she knew what was happening, Anubis would kill her.   
Sahure quickly returned with binds and together they tied the prisoners up. They bound their hands together but not their feet because they would have to walk part way through the desert. Hopefully along the way, they could "relive" some desert travelers of their camels or horses.   
Anubis also bound Jennifer's hands and feet together, even though the girl was unconscious.   
"Now you will lead to way to Amh-Shre." Anubis said.   
Bound and helpless, the O'Connells had no choice but to agree to Anubis's command. However, they only retained a little knowledge of how to get to the cursed place. Without the Bracelet of Anubis, the O'Connells knew as much about going to Amh-Shre as Anubis did. They, however, didn't let on that they didn't know anything; after all, they weren't completely clueless. Evelyn remembered having to go to the Temple Island of Phlie. How they were going to get there, however, was the real question.   
  
  
The prisoners as well as their captors had been walking for hours. Jennifer was still unconscious and slung over Anubis's shoulder; he hair was draped over her face and the tips of her fingers were red from the blood that had rushed to them. None of the desert travelers were aware that Horus had finally found Ardeth-Bay, who was already gathering the Medji.   
Anubis seemed unburdened weight of the unconscious prisoner; he was the most aware of all of them. He was well used to the desert heat and used to traveling through the sands. Anubis kept a vigil watch for other desert travelers with camels. Despite not minding the heat now, Anubis was rather used to being cared around.   
Anubis's careful watching finally paid off; a head of the travelers were another group of five explorers (perhaps, Anubis did not know) riding on camels. The camels were one short of the group but Anubis decided to sling the unconscious prisoner that he carried, onto his camel like previsions.   
Taking the camels from the explorers wasn't hard. Anubis and Sahure completely took them by surprise; Anubis felt "powerful" noticing the prisoners' horror as he dumped the explorers' bodies into the sand. The scarabs and vultures would pick at the corpses until they were nothing but faceless, sun-bleached bones.   
Sahure sorted through the explorers' previsions while Anubis commanded the prisoners onto their camels. Evelyn mounted the camel easily enough but her husband and son had a slight difficulty, though they had both ridden camels before.   
After grouping the previsions together, Sahure disturbed them onto the backs of the camels. Except for the camel Anubis was going to ride because Jennifer would be tied on the back. Anubis put the unconscious prisoners over the back of the camel; once again, Jennifer's hair dangled over her face, which rested against the camel's side. Anubis and Sahure also mounted their camels. "Ride." Anubis commanded and the prisoners set off once again.   
  
  
The first thing Jennifer thought -or felt- was a throbbing pain in her head. She didn't remember anything that had happened over the past few hours but did remember Anubis, her sister and her family in danger and pointing the crossbow at Anubis. Jennifer opened her eyes and closed them back, quickly, because of the blinding desert sun. The sun made her head hurt even more; she opened her eyes very slowly to let herself adjust to the sun. Once the sun wasn't as big a problem, Jennifer's head began working right. She realized that she was bound by her hands and feet and laying on her stomach, over something. Still clearly a prisoner. Jennifer slowly lifted her head -she quickly realized she was on a camel- and looked in front of her. Anubis was seat a few inches away from her; slowly looking around she saw Evelyn, Rick and Alex as well as Sahure also riding camels. Jennifer sighed and rested her throbbing head; the sun was a few hours from setting, but that didn't really help the prisoners.   
Jennifer decided not to let the others -even the O'Connells- know that she was awake. She needed to think for a while then, once she had a plan, maybe they could escape.   
  
  
Darkness soon fell and Jennifer hadn't thought of a plan yet. However, head dangling against a camel's side wasn't the best position to think. Her wrists and ankles were beginning to get raw and red. Her silver bracelet was preventing some of the rubbing but not much. Darkness had fallen almost an hour ago but Anubis didn't give any indication that he wanted to stop, for anything. The prisoners all needed water and food and rest but they dare not say anything.   
The night was almost pitch black and the stars could be seen in the sky. Jennifer knew all their patterns and the constellations even without looking into the sky because she had spent many hours back in America looking at them. Jennifer now wished she were in America because if she never came to London or Egypt -for that matter- then her sister, nephew and brother-in-law wouldn't be here right now.   
Suddenly, Anubis pulled his camel to a halt; Jennifer brushed against the God's skin. It felt unreal. Dead. Jennifer shuddered. Anubis dismounted his camel was unnatural grace. "We rest now." He said.   
He turned around and grabbed Jennifer by the back of the shirt and pulled her off. It was only at that moment that Jennifer realized she was horribly sunburned. Jennifer winced in pain and was sure Anubis knew she was awake. Anubis drew Jennifer close to him. "So, how long have you been awake? That's very deceitful." Anubis said and made little "tsking" sounds like a person would.   
Jennifer didn't answer his question; she met his stare and held it. Anubis threw Jennifer to the ground; Jennifer realized that every part of her body must be sunburned. Her arms and legs stung when they hit the sand.   
Evelyn quickly dismounted her camel and knelt by her sister, hugging her and asking over and over again if she was "okay". Rick and Alex dismounted their camels as well and joined Evelyn and Jennifer. Anubis and Sahure paid the prisoners no mind and began to make "arrangements" for the night. Sahure would watch the prisoners and the camels; tonight and maybe Anubis would do it tomorrow, if they weren't in Amh-Shre. Anubis disappeared, probably joining the sand (Jennifer thought) for the night. Sahure left the prisoners to herself; she armed herself with the long-necked gun that she had hit Jennifer with.   
The prisoners were already beginning to feel the desert cold and the sun had just over an hour ago. Jennifer occasionally glanced back at Sahure, who was watching them like a hawk, but most of the time paid careful attention to the "discussion" the prisoners were having. How to escape.   
"Even if Sahure falls asleep so we can get away, we can't walk back to London or even Cairo. And taking the camels would cause too much noise." Evelyn was saying.   
Alex was leaned against his mother's shoulder, his eyes half-closed. Every once and a while, Alex would moan about being hungry or thirsty but no one blamed the little boy.   
After Evelyn's last "remark", the prisoners were dashed for ideas. The only thing that seemed left to do was weight until the morning and continue on with Anubis to Amh-Shre.   
  
  
  
  



	14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen   
  
  
  
  
Jennifer didn't sleep at all, that long night. Jennifer thought it felt like the longest night in the world, except for the night she ran away after finding out she was adopted, in America. Beside her, the O'Connells slept; Alex slept in between Rick and Evelyn, who had just finally gotten to sleep. Sahure was also asleep, leaving Jennifer the only one awake. Maybe Jennifer couldn't sleep because she was shivering, shaking; maybe Jennifer couldn't sleep because it was hard to sleep with your sunburned face against scratchy sand; or maybe Jennifer couldn't sleep because she was thinking. She also filled with guilt; watching Alex's eyes droop with tiredness and him moan about being hungry, made Jennifer feel very guilty getting the O'Connells into this mess. If Anubis had insisted that Jennifer take him to Amh-Shre, it wouldn't have been so bad (since they would have gotten lost) but bringing Rick and Evelyn and Alex into it was too much. Guilt.   
Jennifer watched the sunrise, as she had in America, and decided she hated the sun. In the new, becoming, light Jennifer checked herself over. She felt the back of her head, there was a huge bruise and a welt but no blood; her ankles and wrists were completely raw and bleeding a little; her arms, face, legs and the back of her neck were sun-burned. She was almost entirely red and raw; some places were even bleeding and peeling. Looking at her burns made them hurt even more; Jennifer closed her eyes and decided to stare at the sunrise. Jennifer watched the sunrise but wasn't really noticing the bright colors; her mind was too busy reeling with thoughts.   
Evelyn watched her sister from behind; like her sister, Evelyn hadn't been able to sleep either, despite what Jennifer thought. Evelyn looked at her sister, whom she was beginning to know so well already. Evelyn knew that her sister blamed herself for Anubis capturing everyone. She knew that her sister knew that Rick blamed her for Anubis capturing everyone. Evelyn wanted to hug her sister and tell her that it wasn't her fault and that they would get through this, some how. However, she didn't and she didn't know why but she just sat and stared at her sister.   
  
In a few hours, Anubis and Sahure were awake and the prisoners were headed toward Amh-Shre again. Jennifer was the only one of the prisoners tied up; this time, however, she was sitting upright behind Anubis. Jennifer kept fidgeting with her binds but that only made her raw wrists and ankles hurt more, so her attempts to escape were few. Anubis was now pressing the prisoners for directions to the lost oasis.   
"Phlie, the temple island of Phlie." Rick answered.   
"Then where?" Anubis asked, eager to find if there was a "short-cut".   
Evelyn and Rick thought for a moment, knowing their lives depended on being able to answer the jackal's questions.   
At last Evelyn said, "The temple at Abu Simbel."   
Anubis repeated his question, eager to catch the short cut.   
This time is was Alex who answered the question. "Past the Blue Nile." The boy answered, remembering Imhotep's frightening water display that almost killed his parents.   
"That's right, and then we walked into the 'jungle' and met up with Imhotep's warriors and then to the Golden Pyramid with the Scorpion King." Rick said, singling to Anubis that the Blue Nile was the last place to stop.   
Jennifer listened to the O'Connells remember their latest Egyptian journey and remembered Alex's story. There was one part of Alex's story that didn't quite make since. "Then, as we raced to get out of the pyramid," her nephew had said, "the oasis and everything started disappearing. It was being sucked into somewhere. We almost got sucked in too but Izzy and his blimp saved us. When we looked down at the 'oasis' there was nothing but sand there."   
If the oasis disappeared, how was Anubis supposed to raise his army? Jennifer decided not to say anything about the oasis that was no longer there; the O'Connells didn't say anything either, maybe they didn't remember or maybe they chose not to.   
  
  



	15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen   
  
  
  
  
Far from where Anubis and his prisoners were traveling, Ardeth-Bay and the Medji were trying to remember the direction to Amh-Shre as well. It was Ardeth-Bay who remembered the Blue Nile, where he and the other desert travelers had almost lost their lives. And where his own falcon had lost his. Ardeth-Bay had Horus sitting on his fist right now, he didn't want to bird to fly away because it might 'get lost' in the desert and starve or get shot by a hunter or what not. Also, Horus might prove to be a great compass if he could find his master.   
Once the Medji had decided to head straight to the Blue Nile, they were off. Ardeth-Bay commanded a few of his warriors to find the other leaders of the Medji and rally the "rest of the Medji". That way they had the chance that they might defeat Anubis's army, once it was raised.   
  
Jennifer had given up all hope of escaping, at the moment at least. Jennifer, for the first time since she had met Anubis, felt discouraged and like there was no hope. She let her bound hands fall in her lap and kept her head bowed against the desert sun. She no longer felt the desire to escape.   
Anubis was very pleased with himself. He was beginning to break Jennifer of her sprit and the courage in her eyes was beginning to die out. She would be no problem now; neither would the other prisoners once they neared Amh-Shre. Once they neared Amh-Shre, he would get rid of the prisoners; he wouldn't need them any more so why keep them around.   
Evelyn noticed the change in Jennifer's attitude and realized that Rick, Alex and herself would soon lose their energy as well and then be at the mercy of Anubis.   
  
As the prisoners traveled deeper into the desert, pyramids became more frequent. The pyramids were old and some were crumbling but most stood well preserved from the Ancient Times. The sun cast eerie yet beautiful shadows on the pyramids; Jennifer would have enjoyed the scenery but the beautiful, sacred pyramids were the last things on her mind at the moment. Jennifer was thinking.   
  
The prisoners traveled through the seemingly endless desert for the remainder of the day. As the sun began to sink, Jennifer began to dread the night again like she had the night before. Maybe even more now because it was more then once in the past few hours that a camel shied away from a crawling scorpion or a scorpion scurried past. After hearing Alex's story about the Scorpion King, Jennifer figured that they were nearing the Blue Nile and the oasis of Amh-Shre.   
Alex looked down at a passing scorpion. Hundred and three. To amuse himself, the young boy had taken up to playing "Count the Scorpion" or playing "Egyptian Trivia" in his head with the passing pyramids. He would have normally enjoyed the games (or maybe, just the game about Egypt) but this time was different. He was tired, hungry and thirsty; he was also bored, which is why the boy continued his games. Alex was tried of looking at sand and scorpions and was sure (for the moment) that he never wanted to see either again.   
  
As darkness fell, the scorpions became less and less and the pyramids were all far behind them. Jennifer was sure Anubis was going to call a halt soon but she was wrong. Jennifer was vaguely aware of the sound of water; it was so vague, however, that Jennifer wasn't sure if it was real or if she was just imaging it.   
Jennifer, however, was not imagining the sound. The desert travelers were nearing the Blue Nile and Anubis knew this. The God decided not to halt until they were nearer to the oasis; he had waited long enough to raise his army. The prisoners, however, would have to go before morning. If the prisoners were worried about spending the night in the desert again, they didn't have to worry anymore.   



	16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen   
  
  
  
  
  
Ardeth-Bay and the Medji were no more then thirty miles behind Anubis and his prisoners. The scorpions were abundant, even in the fading light. The desert warriors were growing in numbers every minute; the troupes of the other Medji leaders were joining Ardeth-Bay's warriors as they traveled. Ardeth-Bay prayed that they would get there in time to stop Anubis and save the O'Connells.   
Horus still rested on Ardeth-Bay's fist; Horus was getting restless. Ardeth-Bay had been watching the falcon's behavior ever since they had gotten closer to where Ardeth-Bay thought was the Blue Nile. The bird had become restless, ruffling his feather and flapping his wings. Ardeth-Bay thought that his master might be near, which was a good sign.   
  
The Blue Nile. The long, twisting, river lay in front of the prisoners. Jennifer stared at the Blue Nile, one of the wonders of Egypt that she hadn't seen. The moonlight shimmered upon the crystal water. The sand along the bank was softer then the desert sand; the Blue Nile lay in between two canyons. The canyons seemed to lock the travelers in, looming above them. Jennifer shivered, not from the cold but from the thought.   
Anubis dismounted his camel and grabbed Jennifer by the shirt and pulled her off the camel as well. Sahure dismounted her camel and commanded the O'Connells to do the same.   
Evelyn dismounted and landed on weak legs; her husband and son did the same and also nearly feel. Evelyn didn't know if the weakness was from riding on a camel all day or from the lack of food, water and rest.   
Anubis held Jennifer tightly by her bound wrists; Sahure began unloading the weapons off of the camels' backs. Jennifer saw her doing this and knew what was coming; Anubis was bringing their desert journey to an end. Jennifer's mind began to reel; after everything, it didn't deserve to end like this.   
Sahure forced the O'Connells to join Jennifer and Anubis; by this time, they had realized what was happening as well. Alex clung to his father and mother as Sahure handed one of the long-necked guns to Anubis. It was clear the jackal wanted to deal with Jennifer himself; he would leave the O'Connells to Sahure, who had her own long-necked gun. After knocking Jennifer out, nearly two days ago, Sahure had replaced the crossbow for the other long-necked gun.   
Anubis loaded the gun and cocked it. Jennifer thought quickly and with her bound hands knocked the muzzle of the gun as hard as she could. The gun was knocked from Anubis's claws and into the Blue Nile. Sahure was as surprised as the jackal was but she still managed to keep her thoughts about her. She loaded her own gun and pointed it at Jennifer.   
Rick hit Sahure across the face and took the gun away from her. Sahure cried out and clutched her hand to her cheek, cursing Rick.   
Anubis struck Jennifer across the face his face claws, leaving three seemingly deep claw-scratches. Jennifer, however, didn't have too much time to think about the pain. "Run!" She cried to the O'Connells, just as Anubis grabbed her wrists again and dug his claws into her hands.   
Realizing that Jennifer had given them the prefect chance to escape, Rick took it. He dropped the gun and grabbed his wife and son by their hands and they took off running down the bank of the Blue Nile.   
Anubis threw Jennifer to the ground, watching the other prisoners escape. They might find help and put an end to his plan before he was able to awaken his warriors. Anubis decided against picking up the two abounded guns, in favor of keeping Jennifer alive. He couldn't let the prisoners find help, he couldn't let them leave. With Jennifer, he could lure the prisoners back and kill them all, like he had planned before. He could wait to raise his army; yes, he could wait.   
  
  
  



	17. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen   
  
  
  
  
For the remainder of the night, all was silent. It was the calm before the storm.   
  
With the remaining binds, Anubis and Sahure tied Jennifer up so she couldn't escape. They bound her arms to her sides and her legs tightly together. Sahure would have liked to gag Jennifer but there was no gag in sight. With the ability to talk, Jennifer was yelling anything she could think of to make her captors mad. If they got mad enough, they might kill her and if they killed her they would have no bait for the O'Connells, which meant they wouldn't come back. Jennifer didn't want the O'Connells to come back; she wanted them to go back to London and rebegin their normal life before she came.   
However, nothing Jennifer yelled made her captors mad enough to kill her. Wanting to shut Jennifer up was the reason Sahure wanted to kill her but she resisted the temptation. Sahure couldn't wait to see the life drain for this girl's eyes.   
  
Ardeth-Bay and the Medji were nearing the Blue Nile. Ardeth-Bay could hear the water ahead of them; he was also aware of someone shouting but couldn't make out the words.   
Horus, however, was very "excited" or "upset" (Ardeth-Bay didn't know which one) by the shouting. He began to screech and flap his wings. At the bird's actions, Ardeth-Bay called a halt, he was eager to see what the bird was doing. Horus kept screeching and screeching until Ardeth-Bay's ears were ringing.   
  
Horus's screeches echoed off the canyons; Jennifer stopped yelling to see if she heard what she thought she did. Indeed, Horus was near-by and was calling her. He had made the journey and he was all right. "Horus!" She yelled.   
At the sound of the name, Anubis started. Horus was the falcon that the prisoners had sent to find help. Now he was here, probably with help. This would not do.   
Jennifer was shouting Horus's name over and over again; Anubis was worried that her shouting would bring whoever the bird brought would hear her as well and come down where they were. Anubis wasn't afraid, just worried. He covered her mouth with one of his clawed paws. The odor of decaying flesh filled Jennifer's nose and she gagged, trying to get rid of the odor.   
  
Horus became riled up at the sound of Jennifer's voice but now that her voice stopped, Horus became upset. Ardeth-Bay also didn't like the silence; why had the girl stopped screaming? And where were the O'Connells, why weren't they screaming too? They must have heard Horus as well and known that help had come.   
  
The O'Connells, indeed, had heard Horus and were filled with hope. Ardeth-Bay had gotten the message and had come to stop Anubis and his army. The only problem that remained was Jennifer and Evelyn was not about to leave her sister behind, even if it meant risking her own life. Alex felt the same way, he had to rescue his aunt; he was aware that she was still captured because she had let him and his parents escape.   
Try as he might, Rick couldn't "hate" Jennifer anymore. Without her, they would all probably be dead. And now that Jennifer had stopped screaming, Rick was beginning to fear the worst for his sister-in-law. The look on his wife and son's faces also told him that they were worried about Jennifer.   
  
Jennifer tried to wrestle out from under Anubis's grip but he had wrapped his claws around the side of her face so he had a prefect hold on her. Sahure was enjoying the efforts of Jennifer; she enjoyed seeing the girl trying to wrestle away from Anubis. Didn't she realize that Anubis couldn't be defeated; he was too powerful for a mere human.   
  
Ardeth-Bay commanded the Medji to camp out at this spot tonight and tomorrow they would stop Anubis and rescue the prisoners.   
  
  
  
  
  



	18. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen   
  
  
  
The sun rose in the sky and Anubis, Sahure and Jennifer were already moving away from the Blue Nile. The Medji were also heading toward the place where the Golden Pyramid and the Oasis of Amh-Shre had once been; they didn't take the same route as Anubis did, however, to avoid being caught.  
Rick, Evelyn and Alex were also awake when the first last rose in the sky. Rick had kept watch all night, keeping his family safe and also watching Jennifer. From where the O'Connells hid he could easily see the outlines that the three made but couldn't see faces or things like that.   
By the time the sun was fully in the sky, the Blue Nile was behind the three groups. Now, however, there was nowhere to hide.   
  
Once the three groups had passed the Blue Nile, Ardeth-Bay called a halt to think about their next move. He was not startled to see the O'Connells there. He was, however, startled to see that they were not prisoners, anymore. Rick also saw Ardeth-Bay; the O'Connells joined up with their old friend.   
Rick explained how they escaped, leaving out many of the details about Jennifer. "But, who does Anubis have as a prisoner. And who does this bird belong to?" Ardeth-Bay asked, since Rick had told him that Horus did not belong to any of them.   
"Anubis has Jennifer prisoner, the bird also belongs to her. Jennifer, you see, is my sister." Evelyn answered.   
Despite being surprised, Ardeth-Bay knew that now was not the time to ask questions. "We must stop Anubis and rescue your sister." He said and explained to the Medji that Anubis had a prisoner that needed to be rescued.   
Alex took Horus from Ardeth-Bay and held the bird on his shoulder like Jennifer had showed him. Evelyn saw how close her son was to her sister, how worried he was about her. "Don't worry, Alex, she'll be all right." Evelyn comforted. She, however, might have been comforting herself more then her son.   
  
Anubis and Sahure pushed Jennifer along; most of the binds on her legs had been removed so she could walk but it was still a difficult thing. Unaware that the O'Connells and the Medji were making a plan to rescue and a stop Anubis, Jennifer continued praying that the O'Connells had not fallen into Anubis's trap. When the three got farther into the desert (indeed the pyramid and oasis were gone but that didn't seem to worry Anubis) Anubis pushed Jennifer to the ground.   
"Whether or not the other prisoners come or not, you will die." Anubis said.   
Jennifer stared up at Anubis. Anubis saw that there was no fear in the girl's eyes; he hated that. Jennifer no longer cared whether she lived or died as long as Alex, Evelyn and Rick survived and managed to stop Anubis.   
Sahure handed Anubis the long-necked gun. He planned to kill her right here and now; that surprised Jennifer, it maybe even scared her but she didn't let it show.   
  
From where they sat, Ardeth-Bay and the others could see Anubis load and cock the gun. Evelyn's eyes grew wide with fear and her heart began to race; there seemed to be nothing anyone could do. Horus began to screech and threatened to blow their cover. The bird took flight and flew straight toward Anubis. As the jackal aimed the gun at Jennifer, Horus struck. He caught Anubis off guard in the face; the gun went off as Anubis dropped it. The O'Connells and the Medji saw Jennifer fall to the ground but they weren't sure if she was hit or if she was ducking for cover. Evelyn prayed that her sister was ducking and had not been hit. Anubis swatted at Horus but the bird kept screeching at every chance he got, dug his talons into the jackal's flesh.   
Jennifer had seen Horus flying toward Anubis, coming to rescue her. As soon as the girl had heard the gun go off she hit the ground, an immediate reaction. Now, however, looked up at Anubis and Horus; Horus was still attacking the God. Behind her, Jennifer was aware that something had happened to Sahure because she could hear the woman moaning in pain. Jennifer turned around to see that Sahure had been shot, in the shoulder, when the gun had gone off.   
Jennifer struggled to stand up and began attempting to twist out of her binds. A few of the ropes that were bound around her legs began to loosen, that was good enough. "Horus!" She called her bird as she took off running toward where the others were watching. Horus pulled away from Anubis and followed his master; Anubis growled as he watched them escape. No problem now, he would raise his army and they would have nowhere to run.   
Jennifer joined the O'Connells and the Medji; Evelyn embraced her sister, to happy that she was unharmed. Both Alex and Rick also hugged Jennifer, happy that she was unhurt. Ardeth-Bay used his sword to cut Jennifer's binds; short introductions were made. Then, everyone's attention turned to Anubis. Anubis didn't seem to care very much about Sahure, who was still clutching her shoulder wound and sitting on the ground.   
The O'Connells and the Medjis' attention, however, was not on Sahure either. All of their eyes were focused on Anubis; the jackal stood up right, his arms were fanned out to his sides, palms up right. His claws were pointing upward to the sky as well; they gleamed in the sun like daggers. He began chanting in a language that Jennifer had never heard before, nonetheless understand.   
Evelyn, however, seemed to recognize the language. "The language of the dead." She muttered.  
After Evelyn said that, it was clear to the watchers what Anubis was doing. He was raising his army.   
Anubis continued chanting and making motions with his hands. The wind began to pick up and blow sand around; Jennifer raised one hand to shield her eyes but still made it so she could still watch Anubis. Anubis began to slur his words, a mix between 'the language of the dead' and English came out of his jowls.   
"Awake!" He cried, now in prefect English. "Awake! Awake!"   
The sand began to rise and take forms; the forms began to develop fully into forms almost mirrorable to Anubis. These jackal-men looked more ghastly, more wicked, more straight-out-of-Hell then Anubis did. These new jackals carried with them weapons of all kinds: rapiers, scabbards, scimitars, daggers, scythes, double-headed axes and regular straight-bladed swords. More then five thousand of these Hell-beasts formed from the sand; they all growled and roared, pledging their loyalty to Anubis.   
The O'Connells and Jennifer stared at the thousands of beasts; Jennifer was sure she was wide eyed and was very aware that she was shaking with fear. The O'Connells as well were afraid of the battle that awaited them. The battle that was inevitable.   
  
  
  
  
  



	19. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen   
  
  
The warriors of Anubis all turned toward their leader; they growled and bowed their heads in respect. Anubis shouted commands in Ancient Egyptian to his warriors.   
Evelyn quickly translated for those that couldn't understand the jackal-man. "Go my warriors! Kill all foolish humans and conquer all! Kill!" Evelyn translated.   
Anubis, however, spoke something else in Ancient Egyptian to the mirror images. "Bring the brown-haired one to me. Do not kill her but kill all others! Kill!" Evelyn translated.   
Jennifer slightly gasped, hoping no one noticed. Without thinking twice, Jennifer knew that Anubis was talking about her.   
As the warriors of Anubis readied themselves for battle, Ardeth-Bay began shouting commands to the Medji as well. The Medji all drew their swords and readied their horses.   
The O'Connells began to wonder what they could do to help the Medji battle against the warriors of Anubis. Ardeth-Bay gave Rick one of his swords; Rick commanded his wife, son and daughter-in-law to stay back.   
Jennifer began to protest. "It's me Anubis wants, he said so himself. I should be able to help, at least." Jennifer protested.   
"No." Rick said simply.   
Anubis shouted a command to his warriors; Evelyn didn't need to translate what the jackal said, it was all too clear. The jackals began charging; they charged past their leader and toward the Medji warriors.   
Ardeth-Bay also gave the command to charge. Some of the Medji charged on horses, some on foot but the clash of the warriors was coming all too soon. Evelyn, Alex and Jennifer went to the lee of the charging warriors; Evelyn quickly lost sight of her husband in the mass of others. Jennifer, Evelyn and Alex crouched on the grounds, their knees resting in the sand; Alex held tightly to his mother.   
Sword met sword, warrior met warrior as the Hell-beasts met the humans. The clash of metal echoed across the desert and rung in the three that were left out of the fight to the death. The humans seemed to be no much to the jackals; one of the demon creatures sliced a Medji in half with his double-bladed axe. Another beast impaled a Medji with his scythe. The Medji warriors were hitting the sand, dead from wounds that never should be inflicted upon a living person; for every ten Medji that fell, one Anubis warrior disappeared in a cloud of sand, victim to a sly Medji warrior. That is, one fell for every ten if the Medji were lucky.   
Jennifer had quickly had enough of the blood-battle that was taking place in front of them. Alex had buried his face in his mother's side; he was a tough kid but there was only some much a sane person could take.   
Jennifer turned her eyes away from battle to attempt to find Anubis and Sahure. Anubis and Sahure -still clutching her shoulder- were sneaking off to one side of the ravine, away from the battle. Jennifer stood up, bent on following Anubis and stopping the battle. "Where are you going?" Evelyn asked, her voice tinged with fear.   
"To stop Anubis once and for all." Jennifer answered, no doubt in her voice.   
"Are you crazy? You can't even defend yourself." Evelyn said but the protests were useless since Jennifer was already heading toward the ravine.   
Jennifer stopped and turned around; Evelyn thought that maybe Jennifer had changed her mind but instead she spoke to Alex. "Alex, I you to stay here, okay, no matter what happens." Jennifer began, the look in her eye -Evelyn thought- suggested that she knew (or thought) she might not return. "I need you to watch Horus, okay so he doesn't get hurt. All right." Jennifer handed Horus over to Alex.   
Alex looked up at Jennifer and nodded. "Be careful Jenny." He said.   
Jennifer blinked; no one had called her Jenny since she was six or seven when she had made it public that she hated that nickname. Now, however, hearing Alex call her 'Jenny' made her like the nickname.   
Jennifer forced a brave smile. "Don't worry about me." She said and with that, turned around and continued toward the ravine.   
Evelyn watched her sister stop by the lifeless, near decapitated corpse of one of the Medji. She pulled the sword from his life-less hands and backed away from the man. Clutching the sword, Jennifer disappeared behind the ravine; about to enter her own life or death battle with Anubis.   
Watching her sister disappear made Evelyn very uneasy. She couldn't just leave her sister alone; she turned her son. "I want you to do what Jennifer said and stay here no matter what." Evelyn began, already making up her mind to help her sister.   
Alex's eyes grew wide with fear. "Where are you going?" Cried the boy, clutching onto his mother's hand.   
"To help Jennifer. I want you to stay here with Horus and don't move." Evelyn commanded.   
The sternness in his mother's voice made Alex agree. The young boy nodded; Evelyn smiled and then turned to follow Jennifer. Taking Jennifer's example, Evelyn made herself take a sword from one of the dead warriors.   
Alex watched his mother disappear behind the ravine just like Jennifer. Alex began stroking Horus, his hand was shaking.   
  
Anubis and Sahure had disappeared from battle; to Anubis, the battle could go either way. Not that his warriors would lose but it could go either way and just in case his warriors did lose then he didn't want to be around when that happened. The two were now in on a bank that dropped over 100 feet below into the Blue Nile; from where he stood, Anubis could see the crystal clear, deep water.   
The sun shimmered on the water but the longer Anubis looked at the sun's reflection, the more it seemed to disappear. Anubis looked up toward the "real" sun and saw that clouds were rolling in from somewhere past Cairo. It really rained in the desert but when it did, it rained for a long period with really heavy rains. Anubis looked away from the clouds -which were gradually covering the sun- and back down at the water.   
  
Jennifer was having trouble finding Anubis and Sahure; she was sure they hadn't gotten too far a head of her. If they had, there was really nowhere to. Jennifer sighed and stopped to think of what she was going to do next. She couldn't very well leave and let Anubis escape, he had to be stopped. Jennifer tightly clutched the sword in her hand until her knuckles were white and continued on.   
The sound of voices reached the girl's ear as she began to go walk up a semi-steep of some sort. Those voices were unmistakable: the gruff, growl of Anubis and the normal, yet evil, human voice of Sahure. Jennifer stopped and listened to what they were saying; the two were very an argument. Jennifer couldn't make out the words clearly enough to understand what they were arguing about.   
Behind her, Jennifer was slightly aware of the sound of footsteps in the soft sound. The sound was soft and barely there but Jennifer could hear it when she listened hard enough. Jennifer pressed herself as close to the sandy, stonewall as she could. If the footsteps belonged to one of the Anubis warriors, Jennifer would surprise it and kill it before it ever knew what had happened. The footsteps came closer.   
As her follower entered her view, Jennifer swung the sword at her follower and stopped the blade a few centimeters away from her follower's thought. Jennifer blinked when she saw who her follower really was, it was Evelyn. Jennifer quickly drew the blade away from her sister's throat and muttered apologizes.   
"Sorry that I snuck up on you like that. I didn't want you to have to fight Anubis alone." Evelyn said, showing sisterly concern.   
"Where's Alex?" Jennifer asked, hiding her happiness that her sister had joined her.   
Evelyn motioned with her head, a slight look of concern appeared on her face when she told Jennifer that she had left him.   
"He'll be alright." Jennifer said, knowing that her nephew was brave and would stay there until they returned.   
Together, the sisters continued toward the voices of Anubis and Sahure. Jennifer's grip tightened around her sword as they neared closer; the girl heard labored breathing and it took her awhile to realize that it was her own scared breathing she was hearing.   
Jennifer and Evelyn neared the end of the stone-wall type thing and were only a few feet away from a large clearing that was really a dirt bank that hung over the Blue Nile. It didn't taking looking to tell Jennifer that a fall from the bank would not be a good thing.   
Peering from behind the safety of the wall, Jennifer and Evelyn could see Anubis and Sahure. Anubis was studying the clouds that now fully covered the sun and Sahure was tending to her shoulder wound. Not that she was doing any good to it because she didn't have anything to dress the wound with.   
The sisters were unaware of the best way to attack their ex-captors. Jennifer and Evelyn pressed themselves against the wall so they wouldn't be seen while they thinking about getting what could best be called revenge on their former captors.   
  
  



	20. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty   
  
  
  
  
Alexander O'Connell was normally a well-behaved boy but he also had a short attention span, for someone who was ten. His mother and aunt had left no more then ten minutes ago, leaving him with the words "stay here". Alex fully intended to stay here, in hiding, with Horus but Alex was being to fell a string of mixed emotions. Fear, boredom and the since of adventure and rebellion were all collecting inside of him. He hadn't had a real adventure since he was captured by Imhotep and never cared to have another adventure like that one but this adventure was different. What if Jennifer and his mother needed help; what if his father needed help? Alex was the only one that could help them, he and Horus. That settled it, Alex stood up and decided to find his father or follow his mother.   
  
In the fry of battle, Ardeth-Bay saw the young Alex O'Connell stand up from his hiding place and look around. He appeared to be alone -except for Horus; where were Evelyn and Jennifer. Ardeth-Bay put an end to another Anubis warrior with the slash of his sword as he thought about this. To the left of him, Ardeth-Bay became aware that one of the Anubis warriors had also spotted Alex. Ardeth-Bay knew what would happen if the warrior decided to kill Alex -that's just what would happen, he would kill Alex. Ardeth-Bay needed to find Rick and he needed to find Rick fast.   
  
Jennifer and Evelyn were still thinking of how to attack Anubis and Sahure. They, of course, wanted to have the element of surprise on their part but the only thing they could think of was charging the two. That seemed to be like the only possibility.   
Jennifer leaned closer against the cool stonewall and sighed. She was unaware that her body caused several chips of stone to break off from the wall and hit the dirt and sand below.   
The little noise that the chips made caused Anubis to become aware that something was not right. His sensitive bat-like ears heard the sound and caused him to whip his head around. He growled and sniffed the air; his nose picked up the scent of humans. He knew who they were without second thought; it was Jennifer and her sister. Anubis smiled his horrid smile; now he would get the chance to kill Jennifer like he had wished.   
Anubis came close to the wall and sniffed again; yes it was the two women for sure. Anubis silently and gracefully scaled the wall until he was above the women, starring down at them. His eyes burned with the fire of killing; he would enjoy making their blood spill.   
  
Jennifer and Evelyn were not aware that Anubis was now positioned above them, ready to attack but Jennifer was aware that something was wrong. She no longer heard the deep growling/breathing of Anubis; the only breathing she could hear, besides hers and Evelyn's, was Sahure's. That was not a good sign. Jennifer felt little bits of stone drop on her head; they were like the chips she had broken off, only they were coming from above her. Jennifer's body tensed up with the unshakable feeling that someone was watching her and her sister. Jennifer gripped her sword, raised it in a swinging position and jumped back and turned around. She saw Anubis crouched above the wall; the same time she saw Anubis, Anubis saw Jennifer jump back and face him. He leapt off the wall at her with the grace and speed of a panther or jaguar. Jennifer realized that she screamed as Anubis leapt upon her; she also, however, realized that on instinct she swung her sword.   
Jennifer's sword sliced Anubis's shoulder but the blow didn't seem to affect the jackal. Anubis had Jennifer pinned to the ground with his paws, his teeth were bared. Jennifer could smell the creature's foul, hot breath; she turned her head and gasped. Jennifer was helplessly pinned to the ground; the sword lay uselessly in her hand.   
Evelyn still stood by the wall, surprised and numb with shock. It had happened so fast; Evelyn didn't have anytime to react. Now, however, was the time to react because her sister was pinned helplessly to the ground by what seemed to be -at the moment- the most powerful enemy that Evelyn had ever encountered.   
Out of the corner of her eye, Evelyn saw Sahure snap out of what seemed to be a trace and stand up to help her master kill Jennifer. After seeing Sahure move, Evelyn seemed to be snapped out of the same "surprised" like trace.   
Evelyn ran forward and met Sahure before she reached Jennifer and Anubis. Evelyn blocked Sahure with her sword, the same way Jennifer had done earlier. Sahure jerked back surprised but the surprise quickly wore off; Sahure reached into the pockets of her robe and pulled out a small dagger. The tip would have shown in the sun, if there had been any; the clouds were all that could be seen.   
Compared to the sword, the dagger seemed like it was no match but Evelyn wasn't sure that was true. Sahure lunged at her with the dagger raised; Evelyn was caught by surprise and the dagger sliced her in the hand. Evelyn cried out and dropped the sword. That seemed to be exactly what Sahure wanted because as soon as Evelyn dropped the sword, Sahure bent to pick it up.   
  
Jennifer heard her sister cry out and quickly jerked her head in Evelyn's direction. Jennifer saw her sister drop the sword and saw Sahure pick up. Realizing how useless her own sword was to her, Jennifer called her sister's name and threw the sword toward her.   
Since her wrists her pinned, Jennifer could only throw the sword a few inches but that was enough for Evelyn. She quickly grabbed the sword off the sandy ground and held it, poised to combat Sahure's sword.   
Sahure and Evelyn's swords hit with a clang of metal; vibrations tingled toward Evelyn's arms and to her shoulders. Sahure and Evelyn's swords stayed locked together, each of the wielders trying to force the other backward. Evelyn finally managed to over-power Sahure and push her backward. Sahure stumbled backward and quickly met Evelyn's advances. Like the battle against the Anubis warriors and the Medji, this was a battle to the death.   
  
Jennifer vaguely saw Evelyn and Sahure begin to engage in a swordfight. She began to attempt to twist away from Anubis's grasp; Jennifer wrestled with all her strength but the jackal seemed to be too strong. Suddenly, Jennifer realized that her legs were not pinned down like her arms were. Jennifer drew her legs toward her stomach and kicked Anubis.   
  
The jackal jerked off her, surprised by Jennifer's sudden attack. Jennifer leapt to her feet and turned to face Anubis. The jackal was growling, his teeth bared and his paws clenched in fists. Jennifer backed up, realizing that she was not in a good situation right now; she was as helpless as she had been when she was pinned to the ground.   
Anubis lunched at Jennifer; the girl quickly dodged the large jackal-man. Anubis staggered and turned around to face her, growling. Anubis charged at her again and pressed Jennifer up against the stonewall; Anubis managed to pin one of Jennifer's hands back but she managed to keep the other free. Anubis bared his teeth and attempted to bite Jennifer's throat; Jennifer grabbed his muzzle with her free hand to keep it away from her throat. Jennifer knew that she might be able to hold the jackal away for now but she wasn't as strong as he was and she would tire out quickly.   
  
Evelyn's "fighting skills" proved to be a prefect match for Sahure. Evelyn and Sahure were able to combat each other's blows skillfully and quickly. Evelyn knew that one of them was bound to mess up eventually and she prayed it wasn't her.   
Sahure decided to aim lower then Evelyn's upper-body and catch her foe off guard. Sahure sliced Evelyn's leg, catching the woman off guard. Evelyn cried out in pain and surprise and dropped her sword -without thinking- to inspect her wound. This was just was Sahure wanted; she raised her own sword, preparing to deliver the deathly blow. On instinct, Evelyn looked up to see Sahure bringing her sword down. Evelyn quickly dodged the blow and grabbed her own sword off the ground. While Sahure was still planning her next attack, Evelyn drove the sword into Sahure's chest. Sahure gasped, surprised and dropped her own sword. Sahure staggered backward and fell to the ground; Evelyn swallowed, surprised that she had the courage to exactly kill someone. As Sahure took her final breath Evelyn muttered, "That was for my sister."   



	21. Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One   
  
  
  
The battle between the Medji and the Anubis warriors was still going strong but the numbers of each side were dwindling however, it seemed the Medji were going to have the upper hand. Rick turned around to face another Anubis warrior; skillfully he beheaded the creature who turned to sand. Rick was surprised to see Ardeth-Bay come running up to him. Ardeth-Bay quickly explained about seeing Alex, alone, and how the Anubis warrior who had spotted him was now headed toward the young boy.   
Without needed to hear any more, Rick took off running in the direction Ardeth-Bay had indicated.   
  
Alex was unaware that one of the Anubis warriors was already headed toward him. Alex didn't know that within seconds the Anubis warrior would be upon him, sword drawn ready to do its deadly work.   
Horus screeched and began to flap his wings; Alex turned around to see the Anubis warrior less then a foot away from him. The warrior was growling and showing its razor like teeth; Alex screamed and staggered backward. The boy tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground; the warrior raised his double-headed axe, growling. Alex held one arm over his face, as though to shield the blow. The boy waited for the blades to strike him, knowing there was nothing he could do.   
Horus screeched and flew into the warrior's face; Horus dug into the Anubis warrior's muzzle with his knife like talons. The warrior roared and dropped the axe onto the sand below; Alex took his arm away from his face to see what was going on. The boy saw Horus attacking the warrior with all his strength; the warrior grabbed Horus with his clawed paws and flung him away from his face. Before anyone could react, Alex felt someone grab his arm. The startled boy turned to face his father, who was already pulling him to his feet.   
"Come on Alex." Rick was urging. Alex turned around to see Horus sprawled on the sand, still.   
The warrior turned to look at Rick and Alex; be bent to pick up his axe, keen on finishing the job he set out to do. As the warrior regained his full height, he was quickly beheaded by Ardeth-Bay who had followed Rick. "Hurry, my friends, find your wife and stop Anubis." Ardeth-Bay commanded.   
Despite Alex's protests about Horus, Rick drug the boy toward the ravine.   
"Are you sure your mother went this way?" Rick questioned, now that his son was out of danger he was worried about his wife.   
"And Jennifer too, I saw them both go this way." Alex answered.   
Alex's answer to his father's question would have been unnecessary because as soon as they entered the ravine they saw Evelyn lying on the ground, next to the corpse of Sahure.   
After killing Sahure, Evelyn had sat down to tend to her sword wound, though she was doing no better then Sahure had been doing with her own wound. All Evelyn had managed to do was cover the wound with her hands and watch the blood spill through her fingers.   
Rick saw his wife on the ground covering a bleeding wound and quickly rushed to her side.   
After convincing Rick that the sword wound wasn't as bad as it looked, Rick helped his wife up. "We have to help Jennifer." Evelyn said.   
Alex joined his mother's side, and clutched onto her hand. Evelyn quickly explained about Jennifer giving up her weapon for her to fight Sahure.   
Rick still had his own sword which could be used to aid Jennifer if it wasn't already too late.   



	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Jennifer felt her strength draining from her body as she struggled to keep Anubis's jowls from finding a "death hold" on her throat.   
Vaguely Jennifer could hear the low rumbling of thunder as lightning behind to streak across the sky. The incoming clouds had not only carried rain with them but a storm as well. Lightning flashed across the faces of Jennifer and Anubis; to Jennifer, the lighted face of Anubis made him look like a demon straight out of Hell. Which is what he was.   
Out of the corner of her eye, Jennifer saw Evelyn, Rick and Alex enter the dirt bank clearing. Jennifer, hand still on Anubis's muzzle, turned her head to face the O'Connells. Anubis did the same, momentarily distracted from Jennifer. That gave Jennifer the prefect moment to escape; she used her free hand to "punch" Anubis across the muzzle. The surprised jackal-man released his hold on Jennifer's other hand; Jennifer pressed herself against the wall and slid under Anubis's arm.   
Jennifer turned around to face Anubis, still weaponless and in no better position then she had been before the O'Connells showed up.   
Evelyn took the sword from Rick and called Jennifer's name. Jennifer turned her head to face her sister; Evelyn threw the sword toward Jennifer. Jennifer grabbed the sword off the ground and brandished it. Now, Jennifer thought, I have the upper hand because Anubis is still unarmed. Well, almost unarmed except for his teeth and claws.   
However, Anubis didn't stay unarmed for long. With a wave of his left paw, a double bladed axe materialized. Jennifer felt her eyes go wide when Anubis brandished the axe as well. This axe was longer and sharper then the ones his warriors carried around and even more deadly.   
Like the other fights that had taken place today, Jennifer and Anubis's fight was going to be a fight to death. A fight against Good and Evil.   
  
Lightning streaked across the sky again, followed by the booming of thunder. Raindrops began to fall from the sky and drop onto the dirt ground below. If Jennifer had been paying close enough attention, she would have realized that when Anubis was hit by a raindrop, close to a centimeter of his flesh disappeared.   
Anubis charged at Jennifer with his axe raised; Jennifer parried the blow with her sword. The vibrations flowed down Jennifer's arms and to her shoulders; her fingers tingled with the waves. Anubis swung at Jennifer but the girl dodged the attended fatal blow. Jennifer, in turn, swung at Anubis; she sliced his across the chest. Anubis seemed unharmed by the blow; the sliced flesh joined together again, not a single scratch.   
Surprised by the unearthly healing mechanism, Jennifer staggered backward. Now she had no chance, it was only a matter of time -now- before Anubis delivered the fatal blow. All Jennifer could do was put up a good fight that she would ultimately lose.  
With Jennifer numb with surprise and sense of impending doom, Anubis saw the prefect opportunity to strike. Anubis struck Jennifer with the flat side of his axe, so not to kill her yet, in the side. Jennifer fell to the ground, winded and surprised; her sword was jostled from her grip.   
"Jennifer!" Evelyn cried from behind Anubis. The O'Connells could do nothing but watch the fight. Evelyn attempted to rush to her sister's aid but Rick held her back. He couldn't let Evelyn get killed as well.   
Jennifer lay on the dirt ground, trying to catch her breath; there was no use in getting up anyway, she would be finished off eventually in the end anyway, way not now? Anubis seemed to share Jennifer's thoughts; he raised his axe to deliver to fatal blow. Instead of making the blow quick, he wanted to see Jennifer suffer; he aimed at her legs, with a quick blow he could easily slice them off. But he wanted Jennifer to suffer so he decided not to deliver the blow as strong as he could. Anubis brought the axe down upon Jennifer's calves; instead of hearing Jennifer cry out in pain there was the sound a breaking metal. However, Jennifer felt a sharp stab of pain but the pain was dismissed by confusion of the sound.   
Anubis was as surprised as the others; he brought the axe away from Jennifer as she reached to see what had made the sound. Jennifer reached into her pocket and drew out two pieces of sliced metal. Jennifer was surprised to see the two halves of the toy car Alex had given her in her palms; on her fingers was a little blood from where the axe had cut past the cars but Jennifer didn't feel the pain at that moment. She stared down at the broken car; without that car, Jennifer would have been officially helpless.   
Jennifer staggered to her feet with newfound courage; Anubis had to pay for everything he had done, even if she couldn't really kill him. Jennifer quickly grabbed her sword off the ground and swung at Anubis; she hit the jackal across the neck. Once again there were no results; the wound quickly healed up.   
After seeing that there were no effects upon the attempt to "behead" Anubis, Rick realized that this "Anubis" was not like his warriors. There really seemed to be no way to kill him.   
Lightning flashed in the sky again, bringing with it a heavier onslaught of rain. This time, Jennifer realized that Anubis was deteriorating with the rain; Anubis realized it too. Now Anubis had a weakness, an Achilles Heel, so to speak. Jennifer found the part on Anubis's body that was most deteriorated so far: his left paw. Jennifer brought her sword down on Anubis's left paw. The paw vanished like the bodies of the beheaded Anubis's warriors; Jennifer's smile was evident, a smile of sweet victory. Anubis stared at his vanished paw, surprised; it didn't appear to hurt him but it did make him mad. He had a weakness, a way to be defeated and that made him mad.   
Roaring, Anubis swung the axe at Jennifer's head; the girl barely had time to dodge to blow. Anubis swung at her again and Jennifer met the blow with her own sword; the metal against metal made a "nails on the chalkboard" sound. Jennifer pulled her sword away from Anubis's and dodged another blow; she ran behind Anubis, closer to the edge of the dirt bank. If Jennifer could lure Anubis over the dirt bank into the Blue Nile then he would be "killed".   
Anubis spun around and swung his sword at Jennifer; Jennifer stumbled backward, nearly slipping off the bank. Jennifer cried out and dropped her sword; she managed to keep her balance and back away from the bank. Anubis swung at her again but this time Jennifer dodged to the left of the bank; Anubis and Jennifer now face to face on the dirt bank.   
The O'Connells rushed closer to Jennifer and Anubis, ready to lend a hand if the opportunity presented itself.   
With the increasing rain and the weight of Anubis and Jennifer, the dirt bank broke, taking Jennifer and Anubis down with it. Jennifer screamed and fought for something to hold herself up with; Evelyn lunched forward and grabbed her sister's hand. Jennifer looked up at her sister, who was straining to held her up; her eyes were filled with unspoken thanks. Jennifer chanced a look down to see if Anubis had fallen into the river; the jackal-man had his claws dung into the side of what used to be the dirt bank.   
Evelyn felt the rest of the dirt bank shift under her feet, preparing to break as well. Just as Evelyn thought, the bank dissolved under her feet. Evelyn lost hold of Jennifer but Rick grabbed his wife before she fell as well.   
Jennifer dug her fingers into the side of what used to be the dirt bank, like Anubis had. Though dirt was showering on top of him, Anubis kept his hold on the wall. Jennifer felt herself slipping; she dug her fingers deeper into the wall and prayed silently that she wouldn't fall.   
Jennifer looked up to see Rick extend his hand down for her to grab. Jennifer took one of her hands off the wall, feeling herself slipping more, and reached up to take Rick's hand. She strained to reach his outstretched hand; she almost had taken a hold of it when she felt a sharp stab of pain in her left leg. She looked down to see what was causing the pain; Anubis had climbed upward and had dug into her leg with his claws. With Anubis's weight, Jennifer felt herself being pulled down; Jennifer fought to keep herself on the dirt wall, no longer concerned (for the moment) about grabbing Rick's hand. She was more concerned about not falling.   
However, the dirt walls were becoming slippery with the rain and Anubis's weight was beginning to drag her farther down. Jennifer felt her fingers lose hold of the wall and felt herself begin to fall. Both Anubis and Jennifer fell the long drop down to the Blue Nile. Both hit the river with a teeth-jarring splash; both disappeared beneath the water.   
  
  



	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three   
  
  
  
The O'Connells watched both Jennifer and Anubis disappear beneath the crystal blue water of the Blue Nile. Without thinking twice, the O'Connells ran down the ravine and, as fast as they could, to where they had escaped from Anubis last night.   
As soon as Anubis hit the water, he became nothing but sand like his warriors did when they were beheaded. Jennifer's plan had worked but Jennifer had also taken the drop with Anubis.   
  
The battle was still going on between the Medji and the Anubis warriors; the Medji were now losing, there seemed to be no hope now that the Anubis warriors outnumbered them hundred to one. However, with no warning at all the warriors dissolved in clouds of sand. Ardeth-Bay knew what that meant: the O'Connells had been able to destroy Anubis. The battle was finally over, they had triumphed again with -of course- the help of the O'Connells. The remaining Medji all let out cheers of triumph and survival as they threw down their weapons.   
  
The O'Connells finally reached the Blue Nile but there was no sign of Jennifer. Or Anubis for that matter but the O'Connells figured that he had met his demise in the water of the Blue Nile. They only hoped that Jennifer hadn't also met her demise in the water as well.   
The O'Connells ran up and down the bank of the Blue Nile, calling Jennifer's name, praying that she was not still in the water.   
The search was pointless, Jennifer hadn't gotten out of the water, there was no use combing the banks anymore. Jennifer was still in the water; the O'Connells no longer had "high-hopes" but they weren't ready to give up yet.   
Rick looked toward the water and saw the form of a person, half submerged in the water. Rick leapt in the water and pulled Jennifer's body out of the water. Jennifer's head lolled back and she was limp in Rick's arms. He laid Jennifer on the bank while Evelyn and Alex gathered around. Evelyn quickly tried to take her sister's pulse but her hands were shaking too much so she couldn't do it correctly.   
Rick began shaking Jennifer's shoulders, praying that she was still alive and that he hadn't pulled her out of the water too late. "Come on Jennifer." He muttered.   
Alex starred numbly down at the limp body of his aunt; she wasn't dead, she couldn't be dead.   
After around five minutes, Evelyn and Rick had given up trying to revive Jennifer. It was no use, they had found her too late; if she was alive when she hit the water, she had drowned. The force of the impact must have rendered her unconscious or she had died on impact, for a fall that high.   
Alex refused to leave Jennifer's side, he continued shaking her and crying her name over and over again. Water ran down Alex's face but the boy was unsure on whether the water was tears or rain.   
Suddenly, Jennifer began to cough and choke. Alex was so surprised at the "resurrection" of his aunt that he jerked backward. Evelyn and Rick heard Jennifer begin to cough and choke and quickly turned their attention back to her.   
Jennifer was choking on the water that she had taken in while she was unconscious in the Blue Nile. With help from Evelyn and Rick, Jennifer was able to spit up all the water and was able to breath again. She gasped for breath as Rick helped her into a sitting position.   
When Jennifer was finally able to breath again, she was greeted by the hugs and tears of the O'Connells. Jennifer embraced Evelyn, Rick and Alex and finally was able to realize that they were her family. She had finally found her "real" family.   
  
Evelyn, Jennifer, Rick and Alex joined Ardeth-Bay and the remaining Medji. Ardeth-Bay had a battered and surprised Horus perched on his fist; after the "fight" with the Anubis warrior, Horus had lost a few feathers but other then that was fine. The O'Connells and Jennifer were greeted with the loud screeching of Horus. Rick quickly conveyed the story of Jennifer and Anubis's battle to Ardeth-Bay.   
After receiving Ardeth-Bay and Medji's blessing, "May Allah smile on you always", the O'Connells and Jennifer headed to where the camels that they had journeyed to Amh-Shre on, still waited. They prepared for their journey back to London, together.   



	24. Author's Note

~ Author's Note (and stuff) ~   
  
  
  
  
Well, thanks everyone for reading my first "Mummy" fanfic. I hope you liked it and I plan to write a lot more about Jennifer and the O'Connells. So, stay tuned for those and such. Let's just get this straight: Jennifer, Horus, and Sahure were the only characters that belonged to the plot and me too. All the other characters don't belong to me (though I wish they did) they belong to Stephen Sommers and Universal Studios.   
For those of you who care, I am going to write about Jennifer's life in America like how she got Horus and how she found out she was adopted and what have you.   
So thanks again for everyone who read this story, Love ya for it. SparklingDiamond   



End file.
